Seasilver USA Review and Profile

Seasilver USA no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

SeaSilver is no longer active. The original company shut down in late 2006.

Original Npros business profile for Seasilver USA, preserved below for archival purposes:

SeaSilver USA was a Carlsbad, California-based nutritional-supplement company founded in 1992 and operated by Bela and Jason Berkes in conjunction with Americaloe Inc. Its primary product was SeaSilver, a liquid dietary supplement containing aloe vera, sea vegetables described as "phyto-silver," pau d'arco, cranberry concentrate, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other ingredients. The company used a network-marketing sales model supported by independent distributors, along with television and radio infomercials, websites, email promotions, and other direct-response advertising. The company publicly claimed that it generated approximately $180 million annually from SeaSilver sales, although no audited financial figures were released.

SeaSilver distributors promoted and retailed the supplement through the company's independent sales organization. Detailed records of the former compensation plan are no longer publicly available, but distributors received company advertising and promotional materials to use in selling the product. Two major distributors, Brett Rademacherâ€"operating as Netmark International and NetmarkProâ€"and chiropractor David R. Friedman were later named individually in the federal government's enforcement case. SeaSilver USA ceased operating at the end of 2006. The domain Seasilver.com no longer contains a company website and currently redirects to an Afternic page offering the domain for sale.

The company's collapse followed a major coordinated enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration. Federal regulators charged that SeaSilver had been promoted as clinically proven to treat or cure 650 diseases, including cancer, AIDS, and diabetes, and to produce rapid and permanent weight loss without dieting. In June 2003, U.S. Marshals seized 132,480 bottles valued at nearly $5.3 million. A March 2004 settlement required a combined $4.5 million in consumer redress: $3 million from SeaSilver, Americaloe, and the Berkes; $1 million from Friedman; and $500,000 from Rademacher. The company and its owners were also subject to a suspended $120 million judgment.

After the company and its owners paid less than $1 million of the required $3 million, a federal court activated the judgment on June 20, 2006, making them jointly liable for $119,237,000 plus interest. The FTC secured liens against assets that included a nursery, an aloe farm, and equipment. On April 10, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the judgment.