Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott:
Abbott Shuts Down Dallas-based Bioperformance For Peddling Fake Fuel Pills In Pyramid Scheme
Claims of increased gas mileage to save consumers money called bogus
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed a lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Texas-based BioPerformance Inc. The company, organized as an illegal pyramid scheme, markets a fuel pill it falsely claims will boost gas mileage and save consumers money.
BioPerformance Inc., president and owner Lowell Mims and co-owner Gustavo Romero of Irving advertise nationally via the Internet and through seminars around Texas and other states, exploiting the climate of today’s high fuel prices. The company’s ads claim the gasoline pills and powders they offer have a non-toxic “top secret gas pill� that can increase fuel efficiency by 30 percent or more and cut harmful emissions by up to 50 percent. In fact, the additive is basically the chemical equivalent of mothballs, which are toxic.
More from the Texas Attorney General.
Additional Links:
Attorney General’s lawsuit against BioPerformance
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My car loves this "scam" on May 22nd, 2006 at 9:29 am
What a feeding frenzy these lies about Bioperformance have propagated! Imagine, shutting a company down over a lab test (funding unknown) on one vehicle, when over 50,000 vehicles are getting results that are exciting and REAL, and IGNORED by this unscrupulous judge and attorney general.
In this ‘free’ country, are they ‘protecting’ us a little too much? Or are they just protecting Big Oil as I suspect? If this didn’t work, I don’t think we’d be hearing much about it at all, and most of the naysayers are scoffing much without even having tried the product!
I can HONESTLY say that I used the product and it worked so well that I’m disgusted with our government to be so hypocritical about reducing our fuel consumption. I pray that the TRUTH will come out, and all of us can share in this true blessing.
Perhaps you didn’t know, but the non-toxicity claim came from the two material data reports from the EPA.
To quote: “It is an extremely safe product in all aspects of handling and use. It is a biodegradable enzymatic catalyzer made of an organic chemical formula, mainly an enzyme. It remains stable and active in a mixture of hydrocarbonic and aromatic substances.
The use of this product is safe for the environment as a result of reduced formation of carbon monoxide, corrosive acids, and other reactive compounds found in current combustion engine emissions.”
The Texas AG has surely seen this, and for reasons we can only guess, is ignoring it in favor of this unfounded attack.
Pyramid scheme? Learn your definitions and use them. The commissions paid were based on the $27 million in product sales, so how can the AG make such a ignorant claim? If this is a pyramid, you’d be hard pressed to find a MLM company that isn’t! The reason for this action on this company, is because its product WORKS SO WELL!
It is the only genuine threat to Big Oil interests, which do not include conservation.
Mike on May 22nd, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Everyone here is crying “conspiracy theory.” Big Oil is lining the pockets of the government, etc. If big oil is attacking some little pill that HAS AS MANY PEOPLE THAT SAY IT DOESN’T WORK AS IT DOES PEOPLE SAYING IT WORKS, why would they not be attacking other fuel reducing ideas, such as Hybrid engines, ethonal, and other alternative fuels. Those ideas have come way before this cheap peice of garbage pill, yet not government agency has tried to cause any trouble for those ideas. Your company has a bogus product. I know many of you are making money in the short term, but Binaries, where the customers are only the agents buying product at autoship, is a shady business. I bet there aren’t 5% of the users of this product that aren’t reps getting it at autoship. You have no customer requirements because BP knows no one not in the comp plan would ever buy this garbage BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WORK!!!!
Quite whining. You aren’t under attack by a government conspiracy. You are in a shady business with a gimmicky product that does not work, and you have proven leaders in Lowell Mimms, Ernie Land (Doc Fog), and the rest that have a reputation for being in these types of bogus deals.
Get over it and find a real business.
interested in all this on May 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Hey guys, there come now the other people whom paid infomercial to have their product Ethos FR sold to save fuel. If anything I would take the pill over all this liquid stuff that has been around for a long time and none of them have worked. The pill at least caused people to look into. I do not know what to think, it reminds me of the movie TUCKER. Who knows about these politicians they are not honest either. So I do not really believe what an AG says after all he is politician. Soon he will running for gonvernor watch. May be the pill sucks but so does politics I do not think the AG from Texas really cares so much as he says. Its all politics. People are not stupid if something does not do for them, they do not buy it anymore. I buy stuff at the store everyday that, do not do what it says it does, but they are not sold in MLM so AGs do not care about that. MLMs are perfect target for AGs to look good. Think about it. so are insurance companies and so on.
interested in all this on May 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Hey guys, there come now the other people whom paid infomercial to have their product Ethos FR sold to save fuel. If anything I would take the pill over all this liquid stuff that has been around for a long time and none of them have worked. The pill at least caused people to look into. I do not know what to think, it reminds me of the movie TUCKER. Who knows about these politicians they are not honest either. So I do not really believe what an AG says after all he is politician. Soon he will running for gonvernor watch. May be the pill sucks but so does politics I do not think the AG from Texas really cares so much as he says. Its all politics. People are not stupid if something does not do for them, they do not buy it anymore. I buy stuff at the store everyday that, do not do what it says it does, but they are not sold in MLM so AGs do not care about that. MLMs are perfect target for AGs to look good. Think about it. so are insurance companies and so on.
bill zamanis on May 30th, 2006 at 11:49 am
I have recently been solicited with a similar produce called ffi,location in florida. Is this also a gimmick/pyramid scam ? mailer@myffi.biz.
regards,
bill
GRC on May 31st, 2006 at 10:53 am
Mike you make some pretty broad generalistic statements. Do you know 50,000 people that say the product doesn’t work? The company DOES have a customer policy that can be tracked. Also, just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it is bogus. It has personally worked for me and I have many CUSTOMERS that don’t sell it but use it.
Mike on June 6th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
GRC, nope don’t know 50,000 people. But I hear a judge, and Attorney Generals from 5 states don’t listen to a bunch of people that don’t understand science. They look at the hard facts. The Scientific Proof is, your product is junk, mothballs, and is being sold through an illegal pyramid scheme. Check out Destiny phone cards. You’ll see your old buddy Lowell Mims fleeing right before the Feds shut it down. Check out the history of Mr. Doc Fog, David Bass, and all the other cronies. I just hope you don’t get named in the lawsuit and serve time with these con artists come Sept. 18 at your TRIAL, set by the judge in San Antonio.
Oh yeah, what constitutes a legitimate MLM from a pyramid? It’s called Customer Requirements. Not autoship volume to reps, end user Customer Requirements delivered to the company. Bioperformance never had any, thus they are now shut down. Even if the product worked, which if doesn’t (again, science and chemistry prove that), the business model was enough to get you shut down. Of course, we all know that now after the court hearing.
Have fun being indicted in September.
chris on August 2nd, 2006 at 11:08 am
My elderly parents bought into this scam and tried to get me in it too. I opted to try the “product” before jumping into an MLM. I’m glad I did. The gas performance on my Nissan Pathfinder actually DECREASED 10 to 15% witht the pills, and, even after stopping use of the pills, my fuel economy is still down in in the dumps. I’m probably going to have to get a tune up and replace the fuel filter.
I hope these guys go to jail.
Terry Greger on August 21st, 2006 at 1:45 pm
It would help if the Media would give the news facts and not just their opinion of what they think the facts are!