The parents of Vemma’s youngest affiliates are angry. They report that the company is targeting their kids in high school. On July 4, 2013, one parent reported his suspicions that the company was a pyramid scheme to the FTC and said "his son and friends were told by the rep that they should not tell their parents because their parents will tell them [it is] a scam."

Vemma’s CEO and founder, Benson Keith "BK" Boreyko, insists that Vemma is not a pyramid scheme and that the same charge could be leveled at "any corporation in America… [which are all ] shaped like a pyramid. It doesn’t mean its illegal."

SIDEBAR: BEHIND BOREYKO'S MILLIONS

In September 2013, under pressure from angry parents and concerned schoolteachers, the company raised the age of enrollment to 18. (Previously, it had allowed kids as young as 14 to sign up as affiliates with parental consent.) But any minor who had joined prior to the policy change would be grandfathered in. "It got to the point where it’s not worth it," says Boreyko of the parental complaints. As recently as July, however, a top earner, Alex Morton, congratulated a minor who was said to have reached the bronze level at a company-led training session in Hilliard, Ohio. "Hats off to this 14-year-old," Morton said to the boy wearing a red jersey in the front row, just before he instructed the group to bring their friends to the next recruitment meeting. "Keep it short, keep it simple, keep it stupid," he said.

Although numerous complaints have been filed against Vemma through consumer-protection agencies like the FTC and the Better Business Bureau, former affiliates rarely take their grievances to court. In order to become an affiliate, kids must sign an agreement promising to never speak out against the company or anyone involved in the company and agreeing not to bring a class-action lawsuit.

Still, dozens of lawsuits from other parties such as vendors have been levied against Vemma and the company’s predecessor, New Vision International, Inc. In 2010, the nonprofit public-health watchdog Environmental Research Center filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it had violated California’s Health and Safety Code by manufacturing and distributing products containing lead since 2007. A 2012 ruling in the case called for a label on products that are found to contain more than 0.5 micrograms of lead, warning that the chemical is known to cause "birth defects or other reproductive harm," and for a label on certain products warning that they are known to cause cancer if they contain more than 15 micrograms of lead. The company also paid $90,000 and discontinued the distribution and sale of one of its products. But although Vemma agreed to submit products for lead testing and use warning labels, the company found itself in trouble just months later with the Federal Drug Administration for violating regulations. The agency’s inspection showed that the company did not investigate consumer health complaints detailing severe allergic reactions (hives, rashes), diarrhea, vomiting, swollen joints, liver problems, headaches, heart palpitations, high blood pressure and hospitalizations.