Power Balance $hips off to China for $8 million: Consumer fraud charge not settled
Wristband Maker Power Balance Sold to Chinese Manufacturers – Bankruptcy Beat – WSJ.
The Chinese manufacturer that made thousands of Power Balance LLC bracelets got court permission to buy the California-based company after no other bidder put in a higher offer. That deal, valued at more than $8 million, enabled Contec Corp. to “buy” the company using a portion of the debt it was owed on a massive shipment of holograph-using bracelets.
And the deal, according to California consumer-protection attorney Filippo Marchino, is even more troubling because it puts the new owners in a better position to market the wristbands—which have never been medically proven to strengthen wearers—to Asian consumers who are more vulnerable to alternative health philosophies.
“When you bring this to China where there’s no real consumer watchdog agency…it’ll put these people in the position of making millions of dollars off scamming the Chinese population,” said Marchino, who was in the process of negotiating a $67 million settlement with Power Balance attorney over a consumer fraud lawsuit before the bankruptcy filings halted progress.
Tip: @SkepticZone on Twitter
This is one of the most blunt popular articles I’ve ever seen about the Power Balance wristbands. It paints a clear picture that these devices are a sham and the company is desperate to recover some profits after tanking via the fraud charges. It is a shame that they can do this and I have little doubt that what they say is true, that the Chinese market will scoop up these useless rubber wristbands thinking they do miraculous things.
The Pseudoscience of Power Balance: Psychology Today
Comprehensive coverage on Power Balance wristbands from Australia
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