THE FTC TAKES OFF THE GLOVES

Folks, the Federal Trade Commission has only just begun to take off their gloves in their 21st Century updating of medieval torture. While their old machines are in the museums, their new tactics have gone high tech and LabMD is tightly strapped to their slab.

All professional tyrants and bullies have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. This nest is no exception. For starters, the FTC seduced Congress into allowing the FTC to make their own rules and have their own Administrative Court . This is very handy when the judge makes an adverse decision, as the commissioners sit above him and can flip his decision like a Sunday morning omelette. Yes, we spend months and millions in an Administrative Court and if the FTC jailers don’t like the ruling they can just overturn it. Prosecutors in the real world would kill for this type of power, and with that in their back pocket, off the FTC goes choosing from their smorgasbord of tricks and tactics, due process and fair notice be damned. Here is a sampler:

Trick One:  Use the court (inside the FTC building called the Administrative Court) to drain the victim dry by making him spend millions defending himself. Always good to starve the victim to get a nice loose skin. The courts have ruled repeatedly that they won’t interfere until this bloodletting is completed. Once this is over, off you go to Federal court to pay the game again.

Trick Two:  Allow the media to assume, using the very well worn FTC habit of lying through omission, that the judge decides on motions to dismiss.  This is a lie. The FTC decides what the judge sees. The FTC likes to keep a bag over the judge’s head because cowards don’t deign to play fair.

Trick Three:  Break every rule in the book if you have to, as the FTC banks on your very short attention span. For example, in our trial the FTC has rested their case. Does that stop them from trying to enter additional evidence as their case implodes? Why don’t be silly! Rules don’t apply to the Gods. They are just laying bread crumbs on the trail to flipping Judge Omelette.

Trick Four: Scare every future organization into early submission by making the execution of LabMD particularly dirty and gruesome. Show no shame. Sink as low as possible. Destroy a cancer detection center. Kill jobs. Trample into healthcare like a bull in a china shop. Lie, cheat, and be so outrageous that the mention of your name makes every CEO run for cover. After all, this is America. The FTC knows all too well the odds of their being held accountable are laughably low.

While this is just a sampler from the FTC’s menu, let me assure you that they aren’t done with me. Hell hath no fury like cowards caught in the act.

Is Congress beginning to wonder what the hell is going on over at the FTC?   Congress rarely acts, the media doesn’t report and the American people don’t pay attention. The FTC banks on it. But so far we have pleading of the 5th and more fun to come. The FTC’s utter lack of integrity will be put on display for all the world to see. Maybe this time things will be different.

I understand you may find my acid words over the top and dramatic. To this I implore,  “Watch and remember.” As I mentioned to an FTC lawyer just this past weekend: Shameless.

Photo credit: Medieval Warfare Armour & Shields