GRAND RAPIDS -- British regulators are threatening to ban Amway and two of its high-level distributors from the United Kingdom in a legal battle that has the Ada company scrambling to rein in its independent sales force.

The complaint is sealed, but the ``objectionable'' practices revolve around a persistent problem for Amway's parent company, Alticor: distributors more focused on selling their motivational books, tapes and seminars to salespeople than peddling Amway merchandise.

The complaint also focuses on recruitment tactics that inflate income estimates for new salespeople.