Federal regulators have secured evidence-destruction sanctions against Success by Health defendants Jay Noland, Lina Noland, Thomas Sacca, and Scott Harris. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proved these individuals systematically deleted, withheld, and tampered with documents after learning of an investigation into their company.

The FTC's inquiry became public knowledge in May 2019 when a bank subpoena was inadvertently shared with Success by Health. Owner Jay Noland then learned of the federal probe. The FTC explicitly warned Noland and the company to preserve all relevant materials. Instead, the defendants began using encrypted communication platforms.

This shift to encrypted messaging began the day after Noland discovered the FTC's investigation. Court documents detail how Noland subsequently concealed his failure to preserve evidence and his efforts to obstruct the FTC's requests. The FTC obtained a temporary restraining order requiring the defendants to produce electronic communications and surrender mobile devices used for business.

Despite this court order, the defendants initially refused to hand over their devices or provide any communications from the Signal app. During a deposition after the restraining order was issued, Noland lied when directly asked about encrypted communication platforms, omitting his use of Signal and ProtonMail.

The court's findings reveal further obstruction. Noland used his ProtonMail account to send instructions to third-party witnesses. These messages, appearing to be scripts for drafting declarations submitted by the defendants, were intended to support their defense. This evidence surfaced only because one of the recipients anonymously disclosed the communications to the FTC.

The defendants' coordinated destruction of evidence culminated in August 2020. Just before they were compelled to turn over their mobile phones for forensic imaging, all individual defendants deleted the Signal app from their devices. This synchronized action prevented forensic specialists from recovering any Signal communications exchanged between May 2019 and August 2020.

Specific details of Noland's email activities emerged in a court order dated August 30. While the recipient's name was redacted in the provided court copy, the FTC stated, and the defendants did not dispute, that the email was sent to Robert Mehler, formerly Success by Health's director of sales. The content of this email further illustrates the defendants' attempts to control the narrative and obstruct the FTC's investigation.