NU SKIN TAIWAN EXECUTIVES CHARGED OVER ILLEGAL MEDICAL DEVICE SALES
A beauty device banned by Taiwanese regulators sat on Nu Skin's website promising to tighten muscle tone, smooth cellulite, and energize skin. The company sold the ageLOC Galvanic Body Spa as a $525 package. What Nu Skin Taiwan didn't mention: selling it there was illegal.
Taiwan's FDA classified the device as medical equipment in 2012. Nu Skin Taiwan never got the required licenses. When an affiliate surnamed Lin started hawking the units online that same year, investigators moved in and shut him down. Lin immediately told them where the devices came from—Nu Skin Taiwan.
The FDA issued a formal ban in 2013. No licenses, no safety documentation, no sales. Case closed. Except it wasn't.
Nu Skin Taiwan CEO Huilin Chiang simply went around it. Investigators say she gave top Taiwanese affiliates permission to keep selling the banned devices. Here's how the scheme worked: affiliates paid Hong Kong-based sellers for the kits. The stock got collected and smuggled into Taiwan during Nu Skin's annual Hong Kong convention, sidestepping customs and regulations.
The operation ran for years. When Taiwanese police finally busted the import ring last week, they found evidence of over 10,000 body spa kits flowing through the network since 2012. Affiliates bought them wholesale for $914 each and resold them to newly recruited distributors. The haul: nearly half a million dollars in profit.
Thirty-one people face charges. Chiang is among them.
The CEO who has run Nu Skin Taiwan since 2007 denies knowledge of any wrongdoing. She claims she didn't know the Body Spa qualified as a medical device and that members were simply helping Hong Kong colleagues move inventory.
Nu Skin Taiwan's corporate response echoed the denial. "We are compliant with all applicable laws in Taiwan, and we did not sell such machines in Taiwan," the PR department stated.
Taiwanese Nu Skin affiliates contradicted that claim directly. They say the Body Spa was promoted straight from Nu Skin Taiwan's marketing apparatus and that salespeople earned commissions for every unit moved.
🤖 Quick Answer
What were Nu Skin Taiwan executives charged with under the Drug Regulation Act?
Nu Skin Taiwan executives were charged with illegally selling the ageLOC Galvanic Body Spa, a medical device banned by Taiwanese regulators. Despite Taiwan's FDA classifying the device as medical equipment in 2012 and issuing a formal ban in 2013, the company continued selling the $525 package without required licenses or safety documentation.
Why was the ageLOC Galvanic Body Spa prohibited in Taiwan?
Taiwan's FDA classified the ageLOC Galvanic Body Spa as medical equipment in 2012, requiring manufacturers to obtain proper licenses and safety certifications before sale. Nu Skin Taiwan failed to secure these mandatory authorizations, leading to the device's formal ban in 2013 for operating without regulatory compliance.
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