MLM = product sold by multiple levels of distributors. Pyramid scheme = an MLM in which most income at any level is from sales that end with lower-levels rathe

MLM = product sold by multiple levels of distributors. Pyramid scheme = an MLM in which most income at any level is from sales that end with lower-levels rather than ultimately ending with actual customers. The FTC investigated Herbalife in 2016, concluding in 2018, and determined that more than 80% of ultimate product sales were to individuals outside of their distributor network...even though their distributor figures were inflated by "distributors" that were just customers purchasing product for personal use at the highly-discounted distributor rate. Herbalife is an MLM, but it's not legally a pyramid scheme, and the agency that investigates this (the FTC) said as much in 2018. (It did, however, fine Herbalife $$$ for practices that would have resulted in Herbalife being a pyramid scheme if the majority of its product didn't actually get sold to non-distributors.)