236,000 jobs added. then a discussion of efforts to engage young people on several issues, including the national debt, fiscal responsibility, and college affordability. a after that, the new venture between at fannie mae and freddie mac, plus e-mail, phone calls, and it tweets. that is live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> tonight, the state funeral for venezuelan president hugo chavez, followed by the justice department's summit on consumer protection. later, the 2013 international women of correct awards. next, the funeral of venezuelan president hugo chavez. he died from cancer this week to at age 58 after 14 years in power. according to venezuelan

officials, his body will be embalmed and put on display permanently. interim president nicolas maduro and jesse jackson jr. spoke at the funeral in caracas. this is 45 minutes. >> let us join hands and our heads in prayer. keep your seats. i want to thank the family for allowing us to share a prayer on this occasion. today we are here not because hugo chavez has died but because

he lived. death is certain. uncertain. certai thus, a life of service matters. we pray to god today that the soul of the hugo chavez will find peace, and acceptance for his service in the kingdom. grant him mercy and grace. mourns today.mily mounrs toda

comfort them. venezuela cries today. reassure them venezuela is not left alone. for madura, grant him wisdom and support as he keeps hopes and dreams alive, as he picks up the baton and makes a great nation

greater. that yougod, tete dtoday the breach between the u.s. and venezuela. yea, thou we walk through valleys and shadows of death, we fear no evil. for thou art with us. let us forgive, redeem, and move on to higher ground.

we are neighbors. we share the same hemisphere. we play ball together. together. resources we fight drugs together. we shared dreams together. we are bound by culture and environment. even the death of this leader, nor any death will separate us from your love, dear god. heights nor depths shallpth

separate us. now, jesus, remove our doubts and fears. try our eyes. -- drive our eyes. today, a great nation mourns. how we measure a great leader is by how he treats the least of these. hugo fed the hungry. he lifted the port. -- lifted the poor. he raised their hopes. he help them realize their dreams. urn, o today we do more i

because we have lost a lot. but we have a lot left. a stable government, an orderly transition. we pray that the presidents of our great nations will meet soon and find common ground. while it may be politically difficult, it is the morally right thing to do. nothing is too hard for god. and so let us rise. we fall down sometimes by our

own errors. we fall down sometimes because of our fears. but we get up again because the ground is no place for a champion. the ground is no place for a champion. the ground is no place for champions. let there be peace between nations. amen. [applause] [audience chanting]

>> as we begin the ceremony, we would like to thank the presidents at the ceremony, the prime minister of trinidad tobago, the prime minister of curacao, the premier of the republic of turkey, the vice minister of the republic of viet nam. we would also like to convey greetings to all of the delegations and thank them for being present at this very solemn and important moment for our republic. we also would like to convey greetings to the people's republic of algeria, the

delegation from the russian federation, the delegation from the republic of argentina, the delegation from brazil, the delegation from the republic of gambia, the delegation from grenada, the delegation from the palestinian state, the delegation from the democratic socialist republic of sri lanka, the delegation from the republic of portugal, the delegation from the people's republic of china, the delegation from france, the delegation from the republic of lebanon, the delegation from the democratic republic of sri lanka, from canada, from the

republic of angola, from the republic of greece, finland, the ukraine, from the republic of croatia, from the kingdom of jordan, from the commonwealth of australia, from the kingdom of denmark, the delegation from the republic of serbia, and from the democratic republic of korea. korea and the republic of south korea, republic of slovenia, the u.s. delegation. we also would like to express

our appreciation for having international, guilty lateral organizations that are present today to accompany us -- multinational organizations that are present to day to accompany us as we mourn the death of president chavez. the o.a.s., the ibero-american summit, aladi, una sur. c.a.f., ec-lac, fal, unicef, and the u.n. d.p.

we would also like to a traversed our sincere appreciation for all of the dear friends of commander hugo chavez who came here to bid a final farewell including mr. shawn. -- mr. sean penn. [applause] we will now hear some words from nicolas maduro, vice president of the republic of venezuela. [applause]

>> dear children, grandchildren, brothers, family members of our commander, president, father, and guide, she goh rafael chavez, -- hugo rafael chavez, heads of state, prime ministers , princes, from all four corners of the globe who have come here to express with their love and their presence, their full support and solidarity to the glorious people of venezuela, to

our commander, hugo chavez. we would like to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for having come here from your to render thiss tribute and to reflect on your words of encouragement and comfort that we need so much during this tragic moment in the 21st century. dear and esteemed leaders who are here representing social movements, political and social leaders who are there on the streets with the people, who have brought music to our children, to our young people,

to breathe fresh air into the soul, our dear esteemed colleagues and friends from the government of president hugo chavez, our esteemed colleagues in government, here we are seeing him in a way that we hoped we would never have to see him. when that immense pain that is so overwhelming, as faced by mankind, and here we are, commander. yesterday, someone told us that

, and when we heard these words, we really felt this moment in its full context, and she'd try to encourage us, she said, "remain strong because his soul, his spirit was so strong that his own body could no longer withstand it, and now he is free and his spirit is in the universe expanding and filling us with blessings and love, bringing together all of those blessings of all of the religions, of all societies, all the love that exists in this universe, to bring us together." and we know this is the way that we feel, commander. and in our prayers, people say

that it is time to forgive. and you taught us, you taught us about that infinite love that you need to have in order to forgive during the most trying of times. no leader in the history of our country has been so maligned, so vilified, and so violent attack than our own commander, our president, never in 200 years have so many lies been told about a man, not neither here nor anywhere else in the world. even boulevard, who was of course betrayed, but they never dared to vilify him during his time and even after his time.

but they could not do it. the allies and the hatred could not do it, because here he is -- allies and the hatred could not do it, because here he is, our commander. why couldn't they do it? you know why, dear and a steam heads of state who have brought your pure love and shown that to this man beyond ideologies and political frontiers, because our commander emanated this from within. he had the strongest shield at any human being could have, and that was his purity, the truth, his shield of purity, the love of christ, a true son of christ that saved him from disgrace and infamy. and here we see him undefeated, transparent, pure, alive, throughout time, for this and

all future periods of time! they could not match you! you'll never be defeated! [applause] [audience chanting] we in our lives were loyal to him. all of us. all of the great men in venezuela. and we learned that because he taught this to us. we did not know that. many of us, from time we were children, we joined the

revolutionary ranks and would go through different paths. some of you in the military, and here we have the generation, the generation of the children of the military. i ask that you please rise. here are your children, commander. here is the national olivary an army who are here with their swords, with their weapons, an army of peace, armed forces, freedom fighters. [applause] and from the time we were very young, from the age of 11 or 12, some of our homes, with our parents, we never in the path to redeeming our nation never did we ever know about our history.

we never knew that if you truly want to build the legacy left by hugo chavez, the first thing you need to do is recognize that he helped us rediscover our own country's history. he raised the banners of the liberators, simon boulevard, and at the same time he embodied the spirit and he taught us to love and also for gifts. -- and also for give. he also taught us to love our history. and that is why today we say, from the bottom of our hearts, and i asked your mother and your daughters, commander, i ask that

i will just say that as an undefeated person, we will continue to forgive those who vilify him and maligned him and all of the blame that people try to throw on you. and in that history, all of our leaders, starting with our greatest leaders, simon boulevard, was not allowed to come into the united provinces, of venezuela. marshall was threatened if he came back into the provinces of greater columbia, our colombia that is still thriving with the desire to be refundeounded. they all died.

in excile because they were betrayed. some betrayed simon balz lavaboo died in santa marta. we sat down to extend the hand to work together, together, and that is how it began, president santos, thank you very much. thank you. [applause] the marshal, his body was left on the ground, and the poor picked up his body and they took his body. ihe spent 70 years lost. he had this great bolivarian

general to bring him from his ostracized status and taken to the cathedral, and with our brothers, with the bolivarian republic of ecuador. why did it have to be this way? why was the final hour this way? why is it that the great leaders who founded this country, who walked from the caribbean, shoeless, why was there so much treason? why was there so much selfishness and what it does? -- why was there so much selfishness and witness? because the self interested in the way. they were not the supreme interests of the people. there were times of chaos and confusion, and bolivar was not

able to consolidate those lands they liberated. and other great leaders, the general of the sovereign nation, the redeemer raise the banners, betrayed. and he also died of a gunshot wound on january 10, 1860. when the victorious troops arrived in caracas. this was all talk to us by our teacher and our father. at that time, oil had already been discovered in venezuela, and a nationalist leader, who was ill, came out and 1908 and

his ship had just barely sailed with the trail of the vice- president took place, and we had a 30-year dictatorship, the worst dictatorship we have seen in the 20th-century. and the country was looted of its oil. venezuela was the no. 1 producer of oil in the 1920's. and our country was looted. so, commander, once you told us that in the presidential play you read this account to commander fidel castro,

commander and chief of the liberating forces of latin america and caribbean, and commander fidel castro, after having heard shoot very attentively -- after he heard you and very attentively told you, "hugo, what a sad account. i did not know that. but you can rest assured that neither you nor i will die that way. when we must depart, we will depart with our people, marching in victory, with the blessing and the love of the righteous and the just." fidel castro's words became reality. here you are, commander, with

your people standing, all of your men and women lack oil as we swore we would be to reject all of your men and women loyal as we swore we would be to you, and you, of president, as head of the bolivarian republic of venezuela, commander of your armed forces, in your land, in your country, under your command, your sole command. we have broken with the curse of the trail against our country, and we will continue to break defeat.se of the fee [applause]

we have broken that curse. here we have the sword, pulled out of its she'ath, and we have his eyes looking to christ. the last few days, just a few hours before the announcements were made on december 8, some colleagues went to see him, and other colleagues from the struggle, the struggles from the past and also the struggles that are to come. a pure revolutionary, the

children of our commander, hugo chavez, and our colleague rafael, they always accompanied him, rosa, maria, all of his brothers. our comrade jorge, dear friend rosa, and during a very trying morning, i went there to his room. we were together, jorge and i. jorge has constantly been riding in his notebook -- been writing in his notebook, and commander

asked that we would help them to undertake a task. and he told us -- i think i am on to have to write a few final words of my testament. and he gave us an order. the last will and testament of hugo jobchavez. he said, "help me with some ideas so i can sit down and prepare this." we never carried out that order. we could not do it. it was impossible. that order had already been carried out, because the life of our commander has been a

legacy, his passion, his words, his actions, his efforts, his people. the people of venezuela are his legacy, the port and the humble of this world. those in despair, those oppressed people from time immemorial, those of us, the grandchildren of the slaves, we are his living legacy. he left his legacy, signed and sealed by the people. and the first one is this. if anybody would like to know something about hugo chavez, truly know about hugo chavez and do away with any misconceptions or lies and read the words written by him, the constitution formally approved by the people, debated by the people,

and learn about his words and actions. what we are today is embodied here. this is our guide. if anybody has any questions or doubts, these are the words, the supreme text of the nation, the text of peace. when this constitution was debated, we went out to the streets to debate and there was a referendum held. some venezuelans came out to vote no, to not approve this constitution. well, as we have seen in 1999, commander chavez, as we were involved in the constitutional process, he said, "be patient. what is just is just, and this text will be recognized by everyone." and today, commander, we assert

this is the constitution of everyone, even those who oppose us take it as belonging to them as well. this is our guide, the died of unity, of peace, peaceful coexistence. this is the charter for carrying out a democratic revolution. and if you want to know more about what our undefeated commander thought and dreamed about, as raul castro said yesterday, and defeated, if you want to know the thoughts of and what he thought 21st century venezuela should look like, this is the legacy that he left, that

he wrote in june 2012. and the executive vice president, who worked directly with commander chavez, and he left with us five historic tasks. five historic tasks. that reflect the thoughts, the set of values and principles inspired on the ideas of simon bolivar, our founding father, inspired by the wisdom of our liberators and indigenous communities, inspired by christ. if anyone would like to ask, how is a human being when he is the true son of christ, our

redeemer, and it devotes his life, his soul and spirit for a society, for a people, for the oppressed, then we have to recognize that you could chavez was an authentic christian, a man of the streets, of the people, a redeemer with christ, a protector with christ of the poor, in this country and every country around the world. so there are five historic tasks that are completely consistent and democratic. because after a democratic discussion, this country of men and women who are free and conscious of their rights, the

commander approved this legacy. n never lied in politics, im anything. when he discovered his own path and realized that neil liberal capitalism, it was impossible to stabilize a society, to provide equality and happiness to society and that it was impossible to maintain a truly democratic nation, he said in december 2004, "i am going to raise the banner of our socialism, not the indigenous bolivarian, inter-american socialism, we will build that dream of democracy, of socialism," and here he has left

that system, that legacy of five main principles. first of all to maintain and consolidate the independents gained over the last 14 years of the people's democratic revolution and the bolivarian revolution. at secondly, to build our socialism, which is the verse, democratic, hemispheric and intra-american. and the third task is to build a venezuela as a power within the context of the power of latin america that will continue to be built over the next few years. and we see this reflected today with the wide diversity of heads of states that have come to this event, and we need to be one single power.

it was here that various presidents and heads of states have sat, here with chavez, as a cadet was trained, where 30, 40 years later that cadet would become the president and who would found at the community of latin american and caribbean states, and we now know the president of chile has taken other responsibilities. we want to thank you very much for your words. and we also would like to thanke raul castro, who is heading this organization. and our fourth task is to build a balanced world, and balanced universe, without empires. here we see representatives that

we express our greetings to, and we truly appreciate. we have jesse jackson and gregory smith, who were sent by president obama. welcome. we want and admire all of the peoples of the americas, but we want a relationship of true cooperation, respect, on an equal footing. and as commander chavez said, we want a world without empires, hegemonic nations, a world that respects international law, a world that is capable of coming together to cooperate, to peacefully coexist and be just, on an equal footing. why is this not possible? here we have the entire will of the world, the political force

of a world, and latin america has taken on the historic task of creating a new world, to join together in our diversity and say to the rest of the world, this is the latin america of the liberators. we're standing together. this world must change. commander, a fifth objective that i am going to read, because without this, it would be impossible to ensure the existence of mankind. and this fifth objective, ultimately, is the one that gives consistency to this

legacy left to us by commander hugo job best -- hugo chavez. the fifth objective is very straightforward and we say this humbly and with our concern for mankind. commander hugo tshamba says as his fifth historic task, to contribute to the preservation of human life and the salvation and the preservation of the human species. no capitalism or socialism or any one of our religions is going to continue to survive if we are not able, with dark ideological, political, religious beliefs, to save our planet. we have to put an end to nuclear weapons, put an end to those forces of destruction of

pollution of our rivers and seas and global warming. here is, commander. your legacy. ago, our ears president, when there were some very pressing moments, or we would make a mistake, he would always tell us, "nicolas, nicolas, rafael, jorge, what are you going to do when i die?" and we always said, "please don't say that, commander." "what are you going to do when i die? how are you going to take care of things?"

he left it all taken care of. now it is up to us to take on the challenge or not. we call on our people to take on the challenge. what are we going to do when you depart, commander? you can now rest in peace. our prayers and our love of christ and our hearts wish you peace, in life and now in death. what are we going to do? we will continue to work together as a people, the armed forces with our constitution,

with your political legacy, with your example, and through our love. we will continue to protect the poor. we will continue to feed those who are hungry. it will continue to build on the education of our children, continued to build our great nation, continue to build peace, peace, and the peace of our continent, the piece of our people. commander, mission accomplished! president, commander, the battle continues! chavez lives! the struggle continues! \ long live hugo chavez! long live our people! long live unity and love! commander, we will continue to triumph, and one word to victory. >> next, the justice department

on consumer protection, followed by the 2013 international women of courage and awards at the state department. later, another look at the state funeral for venezuelan president chavez.b a >> original peoples, the navy seals, the alamo, the environment, and journalism. panels and discussions for the tucson festival of books. that starts saturday at noon eastern on the photography of edward curtis. at 4:30, what animals can teach us about health and healing. sunday, live at 1:00 p.m. eastern, afghanistan, followed at 2:30 at about social security. panels and authors from the tucson festival of books, part of ""book tv," live on c-span2. >> next, frogs used to lure

consumers. this panel includes speakers from the federal trade commission and federal financial protection bureau. this is about 40 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good morning. i'm an assistant director at the federal trade commission. at the next panel will discuss several schemes that target consumers in financial distress, including debt relief schemes, and some online payday lending schemes. in many ways, there is no real common thread between all of the schemes other than a target consumers who are in financial distress, but for small subset of consumers looking for payday loans, they could run across all three issues. very briefly, my background, and then i will introduced east of the panelists, and then we will

jump at the panel discussion, i have been with the federal trade commission over 20 years. i have done a telemarketing fraud litigation, i have and the last 12 years been supervising federal court litigation dealing with all sorts of different schemes, including mortgage relief scams, debt relief scams, payday lending issues, as well as many other issues that deal with consumers who are in financial distress. first, we will have jeff discussed debt relief scams. any consumer who is facing mounting unsecured debt is looking for ways to lower that debt or settle that, there are a number of schemes out there that try to take advantage of these financially distressed consumers. jeff will talk about at least some of those types of schemes, and then after that we'll have some questions and answers to

pull out some of the other variations of that scheme. jeff correctly it is at the consumer financial protection bureau. he joined in july 2011. he is the assistant litigation deputy for field litigation in the enforcement shop. before joining cfpb, he was at the u.s. department of justice where he defended the u.s. court litigation, including suits seeking to hold the government liable for losses resulting from hurricane katrina and bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. before that, he was an assistant deputy attorney at miami dade county, and he clerked for the hon. james kean in the southern district of florida. after jeff, johnson will discuss payday lenders.

there is no national user recap for payday loans, so what she will focus on is not an issue a lot of states are concerned about regarding user recaps, but instead some of the federal consumer protection issues focusing on how loans are marketed and whether the terms and conditions of the loans or whether the loans will automatically roll over are being clearly and commonly disclose to consumers who are anxious to take out a payday loan. lashawn johnson is with the federal trade commission. most recently, she has focused on issues related to the lending and debt collection practices of online paid lenders as related to native american tribes. prior to joining ftc, she was

with the washington, d.c. law firm. she reached her b.a. with honors from howard university and graduate from the university of berkeley school of law. finally, we will turn to katey worthman, who will discuss what we have coined phantom debt collectors. the scams in some cases are based overseas. they call consumers and aggressively assert the consumers owe them for a payday loan. in many cases, in most cases, there is no real debt or these collectors have no authority to collect on any payday loan these consumers may have taken out. in fact, these are really no more than shakedowns. katey is also an attorney with the division of financial practices. she has worked on cases involving debt collection, unfair misconduct under the fair lending laws. she came to the ftc first in

2006 after working at a law firm and clerking in the eastern district of pennsylvania. jeff, i will first turn and over to you to talk about debt relief scams and specifically you want to talk about the cases you brought against a debt relief scheme? >> yes, the case i want to talk about is one of the first that the bureau brought to federal court late last year against an entity called payday loan debt solutions. and as the name some what implies, this company purported to help consumers settle their payday debts that they could no longer afford to make payments on. i will talk about this case because some of the characteristics that were present in this case are common and present in many debt relief schemes.

although there are different varieties and for all levels of wrongdoing, some are outright scams were these companies prey on people, take money with never the intent to provide a debt relief service. then there are others where companies do things that harm or injured consumers, although they may not rise to the level of fraud or scam. but still they cause substantial harm to consumers, and so we identified this company as one that was injuring consumers, primarily through the arrangement that it had. again, this is a common practice even after the ftc possible amendments to the telemarketing sales rule in 2010, which bandit advanced fees and debt relief. even after that, we still see

instances where companies charge these advanced fees, and often consumers are not aware they are being charged these, and part of that is the result of the way that these companies do business. the model is frequently like this. there is an internet presence, some sort of advertisement. someone may go to the internet, having problems making payments on their payday loans. they may click and not "payday loan debt," and a company like this pops up. the consumer will call the company and that begins the relationship. and i want to say a word about these victims, because it is something that we heard earlier today. these are people who are conscientious, who are bothered by the fact they cannot make payments on their debts. there are people who have debts to don't care, and probably don't try to take any action themselves to solve the problem.

but the people who are most, i guess, a vulnerable to something like this are people who actually care about this. and then you also see a lot of the same. we heard earlier about victims of these types of arrangements who are ashamed. they are ashamed that they have racked up a debt they cannot afford to pay, and then they have fallen victim to this practice. so these people really take to heart the fact that cannot but these payments are looking for solutions, and unfortunately sometimes they find debt relief service providers who did not comply with the law. the first thing these debt relief service providers often do is they tell the consumers to stop paying their creditors. oftentimes they will tell they want the debt to ripen so the

creditor is more amenable to settling the debt. of course, when consumers stop paying the debt, whether payday or credit card debts, there are consequences to that. oftentimes these consumers are how to by creditors. sometimes their debts are turned over to collectors and they are subjected to harassment in the context of collecting that debt. and often, consumers cannot stand that any more, so they try to drop out of a program they have gotten into. which would be fine if the companies they were dealing with were complying with the ftc's rule, because the rule that bans advanced fees was meant to alter the relationship between the consumers and companies so the risk of not completing a program would fall on the

company, not the consumer. the consumer should be shipped to enter into these arrangements and drop out at any time and receive a refund of all of the money they have contributed to their debt relief program and walk away unharmed. when a company charges an advance fee, it alters that risk. now the risk is on the consumer to complete the program. when the consumer does not complete the program, they lose the money they paid in forward fees to the debt relief service provider. and then, of course, that disrupts the whole incentive in that if companies are abiding by the advanced feet ban, they have incentives only to general consumers who will complete the program, because they will only be paid when the consumer's debts are resolved. if they are permitted to take advanced fees, when they do take advanced fees, their incentive is to enroll consumers who will

not complete the program. because once they collect the fees they are due under the arrangement, they would rather it cannot perform any work. so once they have collected their feet, and there is nothing more to get from the consumer, their incentive is to have the consumer drop out. so you will find where these advance fees are present, you'll have often situations where consumers are enrolled in programs -- that is particularly true with respect to credit card debt. often, the debt relief credit card programs consumers enroll in take three years, for years to complete, and consumers may or may not be told that when they enroll in these programs, but if they enroll in a program that takes four years to complete and every month they are sending money to the debt relief company or to a payment

processor that is acting as an intermediary between the consumer and the debt relief company, if they cannot complete the program and they're being charged advanced fees, they will be harmed. and hundreds of the consumers that it was dealing with had had no debt relief services provided whatsoever. and yet they had paid thousands of dollars in fees and in some cases. and so we were able to theand obtain restitution for those consumers. so like i said, advanced fees are not the only unlawful act. and the fcc has done a good job with this in bringing enforcement actions to debt service providers that engaged in flat out fraud i think where they are not intending to do any work for consumers. they are taking large sums of money again from consumers who

have high credit card dets and that's a very common scheme or up lawful act that you see in this area. but this model of signing up consumers for programs that they largely can't afford and that sometimes provide no benefit to this is also a part of the amendments to the rule. >> jeff, one of the things i've learn sd that often times a successful scam will take a colonel of truth and expand on it. and the kernel of truth here is that there are credit card companies that will negotiate down a debt, correct? >> there are some, yes. >> so how can consumer when they are hearing this and they've heard on the radio or seen on the internet, they've heard that this does happen,

how can they recognize a company that is legitimately offering what they really can do versus the other spectrum you just talked about. >> the first thing a consumer can do is contact your own creditor. explain you're having a problem making payments and you can attempt to obtain a payment plan or some argument that will allow you to resolve your debt or at least make progress toward resolving your debt without retaining the services of a debt relief service prider. there are red flags that i think if consumers were aware of they might be able to avoid these scrupulous debt relief service providers. the advanced fee. any time a debt relief service prider tells a consumer that you have to pay a fee up front,

that should be a red flag because that is unlawful under the tsr and ought to be a clue to consumers to stay away from that company. there is a lot of information available on the internet. consumers can do google searches on companies they are looking to do business with and search for the word complaint and find some of the worst players in this field will come up. people will often voice their complaints on the internet and consumers can find that if they look. a lot of states regulate this and require licenses for debt relief service providers so consumers can look to their state agencies that regulate debt relief service providers to learn if there are complaints about specific companies. we part nerd with five states who brought parallel claims to

our advanced fee claim asserting violations of their state laws, often they were state licensing laws. these were companies doing business but had no lie accepts to do business in those states. with respect to a few of the states they were violating state laws. consumers can also check with their states. if a debt relief service provider makes a guarantee about a type of relief they can get or someone says i'll be able to reduce your debt by 30% or 60%, they can't make guarantees like that because as you pointed out some creditors will deal with them, others will not. and some will not compromise the amount that a consumer ohs to the creditor. >> so any time someone is guaranteeing a specific result, that should be a red flag to

consumers. >> we could spend another hour on debt relief scams but we have a lot of cover. i want to move on to lesean johnson who is going to talk about other consumer issue ws regard to how these are markets and what happens after a consumer has taken out an online payday loan. >> what happens when consumers can't pay their debt. i'm going to talk about the process when they take these loans online. it seems it's great to shop online. instead of going to a store front, these individuals will go online and search for payday loans and get a list of entities that come up. sitting at their house or wherever they are with their lap top, maybe sipping a cup of coffee, they can put in their information and tell them how much money they want to have loaned to them and within a convenience of a day or two

they will have that money deposited into their account. from that point of view it's great. however, the nightmare girns when they accept that loan. and what the ftc has done recently is brought a number of cases that target the practice that is occur in the lending process and the debt collection of a loan. so typically what happens once the consumer has the loan, they learn there are terms they weren't aware of or if they can't pay the loan, they learn they will use debt collection processes that totally violate the law. so in 2010 the ftc brought a case against loan point for their debt collection activities and what loan point was doing was using federal government forms that federal agencies can use to garnish wages without court order. they would use these forms and

send them to the consumer's employer and tell them they oh the debt and they could garnish the wages without court order. unfortunately smaller companies, they are official looking documents, they have garnished consumer's wages. then there are larger companies that told them no and they moved on. the harm is done. have you a consumer here the reason they took out the payday loan is because they couldn't make their means in terms of their own income. now they are further in the hole because some entity has decided to garnish their wages. not in terms of debt collection of sending these out. the wage garnishment wasn't valid. so they used a wage assignment clause that wasn't in compliance with federal law.

after that case of loan point we brought another case in 2011 however the caveat with payday financial associated with someone who was a tribal member. the owner for the defendant belonged to a nationally recognized transcribe but the corporate entity he used to offer payday loans were incorporated by the state. the argument was the federal government in state actions he is arguing that they couldn't go after him because he is what happens here is the low point, this particular entity said tribal loan authorizes us to garnish wage who is don't live on the reservation but live in other states based upon tribal

law. that wasn't necessarily true so we brought an action against them. they also were requiring consumers to use electronic signature when they signed up for the loan to sign up for a reprorsed recurring payment. so in order to get the loan you have to give permission to go to the bank account and take charges out. that violates the law. you can't do that. the other thing that they were doing is they decided because there were some particular employers that weren't garnishing wages actually suing the defendant in cyber court. they brought the tribal court is a court of limited jurisdiction and don't have jurisdiction over this. they had never been to a reservation. there is no right for the frible court to hold them into

court to defend these actions. that particular case is still pending. but the summary judgment stage. at one point we got summary judgment on that although they have appealed the matter. the last case we brought informs 2012 and that is against amg. these cases are actually allegedly owned by entities that are chartered by an american transcribe. what they are doing is not disclosing to the consumer how much they are going to have to pay back in the payment terms. the consumer takes out a loan. they tell them it's going to be the amount of the loan plus some fee. they are going to take that amount out on a certain day. whenever the consumer's next paycheck is. instead of taking that amount, they will take out the interest

and fees and roll over the loan. the consumer is never paying on the principle, they are just paying interest. so the loan becomes more expensive for the consumer than it was when they signed up. another thing they are doing in terms of their debt collection is they have been threatening consumers that they will sue them or go after them criminally if they don't pay the debt. and after we bought that account, they said it's not us it's some debt collector which my colleague will talk about. so the things we want consumers to be aware of is the wage garnshment is an issue. wages should not be garnished unless there say court order. if you are looking to take out a loan, the entity should tell you clearly what those terms will be so you have a full expectation of what is going on and they shouldn't be able to

disclose your debt to a third party to an employee or anyone else or harass to you collect a debt. even though you've taken out a loan and gotten into a tight spot, the consumer has rights. we want to protect those rights . >> two questions, one is what happens if a consumer reeves a garnishment notice from one of these indian tribes? what should they be doing? >> they can go talk to their hr department for their employer and talk to them about it's not a court order. it's one private employer saying to another private proir your employee ohs me a debt, pay me. if that doesn't resolve your issue, you may have to get a lawyer. that will make this expensive to protect your rights. that is an option. we want to know about it. so let the ftc know so we can

be aware of what the different entities are doing and we can track them and stop it. >> you can call 1877-ftc-help or you can go online to www.ftc .gov. >> what are some of the other red flags consumers should look at in deciding whether to take out a payday loan? >> you should be able to tell from whatever information they've given you how much money it will cost you and how are you going to pay it back. so if you can't figure it frout reading it, that's probably a red flag there is something hidden there. as i mentioned before about the roll over issue, you are never

going to be paying the principle and you will carry this debt over and over. another thing is if you see the word wage assignment in your loan agreement, that entity is representing they are affiliated by a native american transcribe, that would limit what state action can can be taken on your behalf. also ideally if you can't take out the loan, you want to be able to do a very simple internet search. you'll be amazed at how many complaints are out there. or you can call the bbb or the state attorney general's office and you will learn there are complaints. so be proactive on the front toned save you a lot of harm in the end. >> i would like to use the segway to move on to katie who is going to talk about some of

the phantom debt collectors when are not always trying to collect on alleged payday loans. >> yes, phantom debt collectors are scammers that are individuals or companies that contact consumers in order to collect nun the consumers either do not owe or that the scam artist have no authority to collect. and there are two cases that the ftc brought last year that illustrate the practices they are engaging in to steal money from consumers that are already in dire straights. one of the cases was ftc versus american credit crunchers. it was consumers who had previously taken out payday loans or had applied for payday loans or even just inquired about payday loans. and they were contacted by

callers who would sometimes have foreign ack cents, sometimes claim to be law enforcement officials and come arrest them and take them to jail because they ode this money. and if they didn't pay they would be put in jail. the wife received a call. she was told there was a warrant out for the husband. that they knew where he worked. that they were on their way to pick him up at work and arrest him. and unless they paid money he would be arrested and put in jail forever. they use abusive language. the one thing is these are consumers that perhaps are blind on debt. they could have taken out a payday loan but they are confused and don't know and when they have a caller that continues to harass them every day and night and that threat tons arrest them. they think if i just pay it

will go away. so consumers have paid between $300 to thousands of dollars to settle these dets. these are consumers in financial distress. they don't have money to pay. also these are dets that perhaps if there is outstanding debt the consumers could pay, it's not being paid to the legitimate credit tors. one of the things the complaint that we brought alleged misrepresentation. they were falsely representing they were collecting on debt. last year in october the federal court entered a settlement agreement and a permanent injunction and a $5.4 million judgment. the agreement included a ban against debt collection for this particular entity. these are not just -- they might befully by night but they can be large operations. another case that the ftc

brought is an example of this. in this case the ftc charged that the defend skeemed more than 2.7 million calls to over 600,000 phone numbers. and that in less than two years that the defendants fraudulently collected more than $5.2 million from consumers. this is money they did not owe and were threatnd and harassed into paying. this also involved criminal behavior and the c.e.o. of the company was actually charged with 21 criminal counts of wire and mail fraud in this particular debt collection scam. one thing is that even though some of the elses in the complaints that have been brought involve people who have applied for payday loans or inquired about payday loans, it doesn't always involve payday loans. sometimes whits credit card

debt, people are being harassed about other kind of debt. saying they have check fraud. it's definitely really just a shake down scam that is involving people who are in our economic times who have suffered some setbacks financially. one thing that pretty consistent, they are persistent, these scammers, but they also do have some consistent methods and consumers can be on the lookout for them and know there is something fishy about them. a caller could be a fake debt collector if they are seeking payment on a debt you don't remember or recognize. it is hard because credit could be free flowing or you may have a debt from a long time ago. if you don't recognize if they

refuse to give you an address or the address sounds fake. they might make up a mailing address. but if it sounds like it's fishy or false, that's another red flag. if they ask you for personal or banking information, don't give it. sometimes they have it which is also disconcerting. if a caller has your social security number and banking account information, it makes them seem legitimate. but if they are asking for that information don't give it. if they exert high pressure tactics to scare you into pay i it that's definitely a red flag. what should you do if you're a consumer and you think the person is a fake debt collector. one thing you should do is collect all the information they are willing to give you a report it to the ftc at

877-ftc-help. >> any type of information they are willing to give you or if you have caller i.d., the number they are calling from, any information you can get will be helpful in filing a complaint. don't pay on any debt null get a written validation notice. it is to include the name of the creditor and your rights. if a caller says no we are not going to accepted that to you that is a red flag. you can stop speaking with the caller. if you have an address you send a letter with return reit that you keep a caller: of and tell them that you are discontinuing any communication with that caller and a debt collector has to

stop unless they call you to say they are filing a lawsuit against you or to tell you they will no longer be calling again. contact the creditor to see fits legitimate, to see fits a collector working with your creditor and report the call to the ftc. >> how are they getting this information? you said sometimes they have an awful lot of information on you. >> that is a very good question and we're interested in finding out more about that. there could be some people that are trading people's personal information. but we are interested in finding out more of where -- who these phantom debt collectors are and where they are getting their leads from. >> you said in some case it is callers had foreign ack cents.

what if they don't, does that mean it's a legitimate debt? >> no, there are more and more of these scams popping up everywhere. it is definitely a growing cottage industry. and even if a caller does not have a foreign accent. the two cases we brought the call centers were located abroad. even if they don't, there are many consumers who have complained and call centers are located everywhere. >> are these scams just calling the consumers error they calling parents or children or relatives? >> because they may be collecting on very old debt, often they are calling very old numbers, could be ex-wives, could be grandmothers, parent's addresses where people lived seven years ago tracking down folks. and one of the things is that if they do get a relative that

is threatening to relative that the grand p son is going to be arrested is another way to collect money from people. again, the same advice applies. if a parent or a relative reeves a call from somebody who is threatening having personal information that might be outdated. take information down but don't pay anything. i'd like to thank everyone on the panel. i think we're one minute early but that's never a bad thing. i'd like to thank you for joining us today and talking about the various scams have you been working on. unfortunately it keeps us employed. thank you very much. >> more now from the consumer protection summit. this panel focused on prescription drug and dietary

supplement scams. this is about 50 minutes. >> good morning emp. my name the rich goldberg. the panel this morning is going to address the subject of the risks of dietary supplements. now we would be remisin not acknowledging the passing of a legend in this industry. rick brumberg who passed away yesterday served as fda council for litigation. no one will be as passionate about protecting consumers from

the dangers of dietary supplements and medical devices. he will be missed. on to the subject that rick blumberg carried most about and that is the marketing of health to the public. now before marketing health to the public, generally speaking, firms and individuals have to get approval from the government before marketing health insurance to the public, you got to get licensed. before marketing yourself as a pharmacist or a nurse or a dentist, have you to get approval. you have to take tests and show you know what you are talking about. before you become a doctor, you have to pass a couple of tests to show that you know what you are talking about. before marketing medical

devices, before marketing farm suit cals to the public you have to tchon strait your products are safe y. is that? maybe it's because health is the most important thing we've got. before you take something or use a service that is health related, you want to know that that product or service is tried and true. we don't like to think of ourselves as guinea pigs. unlike other health related products and services, dietary supplements require no same prolve process. if you don't research the dietary supplements that you're taking, then you may be signing up to be a guinea pig. there are plenty of safe and effect i have dietary supplements out there. but there may be one that is present unnecessary risks to

consumers that consumers need to be aware of. now these speakers we have here today will talk about dietary supplements and the potential risks they pose. our first speaker is dr. paul coates. dr. coats office supports and conducts research on dietary supplements. i'll introduce the other speakers in turn. but first dr. paul coates will speak on the issue of efficacy, whether dietary supplements do what they claim to do. >> thank you very much. it's nice for you to have invited me. i'm not like the other children. i'm not a lawyer or regulator. my office is very much involved in the science of dietary supplements.

we work closely with our partner agencies in the federal government, notably the food and drug administration and the federal trade administration largely as a scientific resource for them. we're also a scientific resource for consumers as well. we feel as though that's where we have our best opportunity to inform people about the issues related to supplements. you mentioned efficacy, it's one of the three things we're concerned about in our work and the work we support at the office of dietary supplements. most everything we do is under those. in terms of efficacy, the fact is that there are many dietary supplement ingredients for which efficacy is hard to prove. there are some for which it is not difficult because for many

of the ingredients in dietary supplements you're already getting them in the supply. that's part of the reason yits a commodity class and regulated as food and not drugs. that doesn't help a consumer who doesn't care whether something is a food, a device, a drug or a dietary supplement. they do want to know whether something works. sometimes it's hard to prove ingredients in supplements which are usually given at levels over and above you're getting in a diet. does the extra make a difference? sometimes it does. but it is not always easy for people to sort out the differences here. we, like others, but we like to think that we provide a good clearinghouse of information for consumers and for the

healthcare providers whom we believe consumers should be consulting when they are thinking about taking dietary supplements. you don't have to. you can walk into a vitamin shop or local supermarket or the local 7/11 and pick up dietary supplements of many different kind. and you don't need somebody's advice or counsel to do that. that isn't enough. you should be prepared to have a conversation with your doctor. will it be effective? is it safe under the conditions of use? those are questions that you should always have in your mind when you are thinking about whether to take dietary supplements. we have an app for that. the sap called my dietary

supplement and it's available if you go to our website, you can download it easily and it's a way we encourage people to track their use of dietary supplements. kind of like if you are tracking your physical activity with one of these little things or if you are monitoring your food intake using a food diary. here is an opportunity to use a similar kind of tool to monitor your dietary supplement use or the people whom you are caring for. the other use this has is it helps to conduct the conversation with your physician. why do i keep saying that? because we are concerned nottable about issues of efficacy, but safety and one of the components of safety is the interaction that might exist between ingredients in dietary supplements and prescription drugs you might be taking under a doctor's care.

if you think about it, probably a good idea to let the doctor know what dietary supplements you are taking in order to avert potential harms associated with the interactions between some dietary supplement ingredients and some prescription drugs. there are several examples. it's not widespread. it's not the sky is falling. but there are enough examples we should be alert to the fact that interactions with prescription drugs might be an issue for you to consider. the third i mentioned to you is quality. and this is an area where i know other speakers will have something to say about it because it speaks to what is in the bottle. sometimes what is on the label is not in the bottle. it seems to me because of fda actions over the last several of years, manufacturers of dietary supplements are being

expected to oh tow the line about quality of their product and being much more conscious of the need to have on the label what is really in the bottle. don't lie about it. don't underestimate or overestimate. point is when those regulations are fully implemented and implemented by the industry that consumers stand a better chance of being confident what is on the label is in the bottle. in the meantime, we and others in the government are trying to provide data and useful information to help the providers, to researchers, to consumers that may help them in gathering that kind of information. i'll stop there and see if you have anything else you want to ask? >> if i'm a consumer, how do i

know if i need a dietary supplement to help my condition fits an illness or if i'm a healthy individual, what considerations should i have and what should i look to to provide guide science >> these are important and practical questions to ask. we can offer some advice to consumers and the one i've already mention sd i encourage you to seek advice from professionals. we have information on our website. i emphasize our website provides links to other valuable sources of information, health related information for example. one of my colleagues, paul thomas in the office and other colleagues are involved in the development of updating fact sheets which we provide largely for consumers and healthcare providers to give them the details and the overview information in trying to

understand whether vitamin e in a particular set of circumstances might or might not be valuable. the fact sheets provide references to relevant literature or other information that either consumers or healthcare providers might find useful. i really do think you treat this as a healthcare intervention. if you pause and realize what i am telling you, it's an intervention. dietary supplements are biologically active. they may have consequences. they may or may not have benefits. you may know as a counsumer would probably benefit from gathering a little more information. in the age of the internet, the wonderful dichotomy, the blessing is there is a huge amount of information available on the internet. the scurs there is a huge

amount of information available on the internet. and it's difficult to sort out. a good place to start is a trustworthy site to get information like that. i think you should be asking yourself if you're planning to take supplements why. if you are reasonably healthy, diet conscious, you're getting enough of the nutrients you need from other sources, there seems little reason to be enthusiastic about getting additional from dietary supplements. are you seeking nutritional insurance. are you trying to seek coverage for short falls in a slightly unhealthy diet. may or may not be of any value to take dietary supplements. i've mentioned a little bit

about possible safety concerns. they are not widespread when it comes to dietary supplements but they are lurking in the background for some people who may be taking some ingredients at levels not recommended by the manufacturer. so high levels of intake of things like vitamin a there can be serious tax isty. >> it might not be hard to get to that level if you are eating a diet replete in that ingredient. the window of what is recommended and the upper tolerable slelve not huge for a nutrient like vitamin a. for vitamin b there is a wide range of what is recommended and we don't own know what is a toxic level of vitamin b-12. it's hard to identify one.

nevertheless taking high levels of anything, you should think about why you are doing that. so that gets to the notion of dose. sometimes it is very valuable to talk with your physician about what might be a recommended intake. he can't give you a prescription for it. she can't tell you that this is the perfect dose for you because we don't really know those pieces of information. but you should be alert to the fact that dose can make a difference. very high doses of some things can be of concern. and then the dosing schedule is another thing you might want to be thinking about. the other piece of advice that i would give you if you are thinking about supplements don't do it because you think you have a health condition you've diagnosed yourself. not a good -- what is the phrase a doctor who has himself as a patient is a pretty lousey

doctor. you shouldn't be making these decisions for youffers in a vacuum. i do urge you not to take dietary supplements with prescribed medications unless you are doing that with the knowledge and approval of your healthcare provider. i think the last thing i would comment on here is that safe is not equivalent to natural. it is clear that almost every dietary supplement ingredient you can find comes from some natural source or another or has been synthesized. but that doesn't mean it's safe under all conditions. so you need to be aware of all of those things. >> one more quick question. you mentioned briefly following dozenage labels on the bottles,

following recommendations of the manufacturers. is it always the case that these recommendations and labels of the manufacturers of dietary supplements are based on science and well founded research? >> generally speaking, that's the case. seasons that underpins some of those recommendations is very stable and consistent with public health recommendations. sometimes the science that supports dietary supplements and some of the more exotic ones would fall into this category are the ones we don't have a huge amount of science to base good recommendations. and often, not always, often that is reflected on the label that there are plenty of reliable honest broker manufacturers of dietary supplements. the trouble is you might not always know who they are or who they aren't when buying

products. they look like drugs. they come in bottles that are placed not next to but not far away from the drugs that might be intended to replace. consumers are at a bit -- can be confused by that. but i would say for the most part, recommended intakes follow dietary reference intakes that are made as recommendations by the governments, canada, u.s. make much the same kind of recommendations. >> on the subject of darker side of the industry, let's turn to our second speaker, jeff is a senior operation manager of drugs at the u.s. food and drug administrations office of criminal investigations. jeff began his career in 2004 serving in the new york field office investigating a variety

of criminal schemes involving fda regulated products. for the past five and a half years jeff has served as oci headquarters managing investigate tive areas involving drugs, medical devices, biologics, veterinary medicine and tampering. would you address the issue of claims made on dietary supplements and fraud you and your agents have seen? >> absolutely. good morning everyone i appreciate the invitation to be here. just a little bit more about myself. i come from a healthcare background. i'm a registered pharmacist and been involved in the drug arena for over 25 years. my first professional career was as a registered pharmacist working in the retail drug sector bath at the independent

drugstores and the chain drugstores. the biggest real that i had as a retail pharmacist toffs con sulet consumers on their medication usage both prescription or over the counter. also dietary supplements happen to fall on my lap in consulting with patientles on their particular needs. after a stint as a retail pharmacist i began my career on the regulatory side as a consumer safety officer. my primary role was to inspect fda regulated facilities primarily in the area of drugs. it was then i was bit by the law enforcement bug. coming from a law enforcement family i began my career office of inspector general office of investigations. there my primary role toffs investigate medicare fraud.

then on the oci. fda's law enforcement arm. i investigated a variety of cases of criminal activity, primarily in the drug arena. for those of you who don't know much about o.c.i. we're a small organization located within fda. we are fda's law enforcement arm. we conduct a variety of investigations involving all f.d.a. regulated commodities including but not limited to dietary supplements. for those of you that don't know the structure or framework of f.d.a., there are six back bones to f.d.a. here in maryland. they are known as sectors. each sent certificate responsible for regulating particular commodities.

they are the center fer biologic research. the center for biologic. the center for tobacco products. the center for food safety. and the center for drugs evaluation and research. >> dietary supplements are regulated by the food safety and applied nutrition. however in my line of work, in the drug arena, at certain times which we'll talk about in a few moments here, those dietary supplements are under the purview of the center for drugs. the types of criminal investigation that is i see involving dietary supplements are twofold. we have tainted dietary supplements and supplement that is are associated with health fraud scams. these particular investigations that we do in these areas can have potential hazards.

both direct hazards meaning that the product itself can cause serious injury or harm including death or there can be an indirect health hazard where the product itself cause noss hazard but consuming it will delay treatment or the cause a consumer to discontinue appropriate medical treatment. unfortunately this is a growing area. when i checked earlier on the f.d.a.'s website they list every tainted supplement it's identified there were 332 different dietary supplements that were identified to contain active pharmaceutical ingredients also known as a.p.i.'s. i'd like to hammer home in th issue because it's very important to f.d.a. and it's a public health issue. i'm going to provide you with a

couple of examples of these we are finding day in and day out. the first example would be a active pharmaceutical ingredient. it was in an approved f.d.a. prescription drug product for weight loss which a few years back there was information that suggested an increase in risk of card vascular system. f.d.a. noted an increased risk in strokes and heart attacks for example. f.d.a. requested that the manufacturer withdraw the product from the u.s. marketplace and it did. however, due to unscrupulous individuals, criminals, this particular chemical is making it into dietary supplements which you can buy on the internet or in your gas

station. the drug niths certain individuals can cause an increase in blood pressure or pulse. so as dr. mentioned earlier there could be interactions with particular disease states. in this case you can only imagine if the particular consumer looking to lose weight has something such as congestive heart failure or coronary artery disease. an ingredient that increases pulse rate is not for that consumer and could cause serious injure oy or death. another example bowled in the male enhancement area. countless numbers of times f.d.a. has identified ingredients when ch are in prescription drugs in the u.s.

for e recommend tile disfinks. these a.p.i.'s come with their own inher rent precautions. for example these particular products are contraindicated for use in individuals consuming organic nigh traites. commonly used by heart patients to treat chest pain. just say for example you can imagine a consumer visiting with his physician requesting an e recommend tile dysfunction medication but baced upon the current medication that patient is taking, for example nigh traites the doctor decide against it. the consumer then goes to the natural dietary supplement arena and decides to purchase a product that may contain one of these a.p.i.'s.

you can see where the danger can occur. these two products along with organic nigh traites can lower blood pressure to a dangerous situation. if containing active pharmaceutical ingredients which are found in prescription drugs is dangerous enough, the criminals have found other ways of getting other items into dietary supplements. and f.d.a. has found analogs of a.p.i.'s in dietary supplements. basically speaking an analog is a drug, a chemical that is similar in chemical structure as these approved drugs, however slightly different. and the criminal suspecting that the product will give the same therapeutic effect as the approved prescription drugs. however, as you can tell, some

of these analogs may not actually have been studied in clinical trials, therefore, we're actually playing in the wild west. another example of drugs found in dietary supplements is another prescription actually contained three different active pharmaceutical ingredients. those were a cor co-steroid. a non-steroid al drug and a muscle relaxant. you can only imagine now we have three different active pharmaceutical ingreed glents one over the counter product. and depending on what type of disease states the individual has and what type of medications they are taking, this is a three some problem now because you have three

active pharmaceutical ingredients. not to belab boar the point but some of the other a.p.i.'s found are blood lowering medication, dire retics, designer steroids and i just found out and just again learning every day a medication used for seizures found in dietary supplements today. another type of crime that i get involved in in the drug arena is health fraud scams. the snake's oils man scams. let me read to you the definition of health fraud. it is the southeast accept tive promotion advertisement or sale of products as being effect toif diagnosis, prevent, cure,

treat or mitigate disease or to provide a beneficial effect on health but which have not been scientifically proven safe and effective for such purposes. that's when we get into the helt arena when a dietary supplement regulated as a food product tends to make statement that is diagnosis, prevent, cure, treat or mitigate disease. examples that we see in this arena are treatment statements involving chronic serious diseases such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes and sexually transmitted diseases including but not limited to hiv. you can only imagine what individuals can -- what can happen to both the consumer as well as other individuals associated with the consumer

when taking products that give false hope. unfortunately these criminals that are out there providing these type of dietary supplements with treatments and curious that have never been studied. they feed on the vulnerable public, especially in types of panic, for example during the flu panics. what type of enforcement tools does f.d.a. have to protect the consumer? f.d.a. has both regulatory options and criminal options. from a regulatory standpoint, f.d.a. can issue warning letters to the subject firm or the subject individual. they have administrative authorities where they can institute and import alert or import refusal meaning product

coming from overseas can be stopped at the border. there are some regulatory judicial civil actions that can occur. seize sure and injunction are the popular ones. lastly but certainly not leastly f.d.a. can investigate criminally. a lot of times our criminal investigations will parallel with civil actions. so what kind of education can i provide to you today to help consumers educate themselves so they are not victimized by taking dietary supplements or health fraud scams. look for the red flags out there. look for statements that say treat serious or incurable diseases. look for other catch phrases such as cure alls or miracle crures. scientific break through, secret formula and my favorite,

they don't want you to know about it. also check with your physician or your pharmacist prior to taking dietary supplements and be sure to tell your physician and your pharmacist if you already are taking dietary supplements. strift f.d.a. website. is there -- there is a lot of information especially when it comes to the scams that are out there. and it list a lot of the product names that are associated with these scams and are tainted. consumers need to do their due diligence in this area. be aware of where you are purchasing the product. the internet is like the wild wild west. be careful and do your searching wisely. >> you've heard a lot this morning about the various challenges of law enforcement to combat scams. what are some of the difficulties or obs tacks you

and v seen in combating the times of scrams you've identified? >> i think and it's been mentioned panel after panel this morning it's a global problem. so any time we're trying to conduct a criminal investigation where the criminals are located overseas it makes it that much more difficult to trun investigation. we rely on collaborating with other law enforcement agencies and other regulatory components of foreign governments to assist us in that area. in addition, f.d.a. is a public health and safety organization. and to conduct a criminal investigation involving a public health and safety matter where the public needs to be warned, it makes it very difficult at times to conduct a criminal investigation. because once an alert goes out

notifying the public of another tapetted supplement, the hat is pretty much tipped but it's the right thing to do. >> there may be consumers saying to themselves i have a disease that i'm suffering from and i need something that is going to cure me. they've gone to their physician and different sources and they are lacking something that is going to cure their ailment and they want to say to themselves i'm not going to listen to some government beaurocrat who is telling me i shouldn't take this product because it might cure my disease. why shouldn't i go on the internet or some place else and look for this cure that some government sburek telling me i shouldn't be taking? >> that's a good question. i've been the federal beaurocrat and in the private

sector. the only thing i can say to that is >> thank you very much. i would like to turn to our third speaker. patrick is in the consumer branch of consumer of justice. he's been in that position since 2009. prior to that he was a clerk on the u.s. court of appeals for the second circuit. mr. runkle is going address specific subjects relating to dietary supplement pppings he's going to talk about mastering globally but also through a particular case he handled. >> thanks, rich. we handle cases on behalf of the f.d.a., that includes dietary safety cases.

i would like to talk about the rules that are applicable. up until a few years ago the only rules that were applicable were the same rules that were to the food facilities. in the latter part of 2000, f.a.d. identified a need of dietary supplement industry in order to ensure the safety and quality of dietary supplements of every step throughout the manufacturing process. those new rules were made official in 2007 and they went into effect in 2008, and 2009, maybe 2010 depending on the size of the manufacturer. those rules have been difficult for many manufactures to abide by those rules. an audit of the inspections that were conducted over the past

four years there were several hundred inspections. the f.d.a. found out half of the inspections they identified manufacturing issues with dietary supplements. the f.d.a. can't inspect half of the types of facilities that are out there. so they have to inspect food facilities, cosmetic manufacturers, so it is impossible for f.d.a. to inspect all the manufacturers out there and, according to f.d.a. we have a half of the supplements not making it to to the base line to make sure they are what think say they are. more specifically, we've been talking general today but i want to give an example of when things can go wrong in the dietary supplement industry. i brought a little show and tell

today. so speaking of products being manufactured under the improper concerns. there's a firm in new jersey that i mitigated against for the past three years. the laboratories were not a fly by night company. it was a large dietary supplement manufacturer in the new york area and it was around for over 20 years. it made a lot of products but a lot of a them were work out supplements. if you walked by a g.n.c., you probably see these and these are protein pouders that people make shakes out of and body builders consume them to get extra protein. it madely made milk protein and egg protein pouders that were sold -- powders and they were

third party brands so you had no idea where they manufactured. they also sold products under its own brand name. i said it was ant fly by night company and at the time this lawsuit was filed, it had a distribution deal worked out with costco in, which the whey protein was going to almost every costco warehouse in the united states. it was worth about $10 million worth of product every year. i'm going tell you the story but i don't mean to paint every every dietary supplements with this brush, there are other companies out there trying to to do the right thing. i'm sure there are many dietary facilities that are perfectly clean. but it came on to the f.d.a.'s

radar when there was a consumer in the northwest, he was a young college student. he had severe milk allergy and he knew that he had a milk allergy. his parents bought him a egg protein powder. and after he took a scoop his heart shopped and his throat was swollen shut. his roommate was able to get him to the hospital, luckily his roommate was there. his parents complained to the f.d.a. and told them about the situation. f.d.a. found this product was manufactured at the facility and they went to inspect the

facility. in early 2007 when they conducted the first investigation, investigators found a number of issues that were of some concern to the agency. they did not have proper controls over cross contamination in their products. what that means is that they would produce an allergy contained product, followed by a product that was not supposed to contain that allergen without making sure the prior allergen made its way into the second product. that would happen with inadequate cleaning and because it is a powder you had powders blowing around. another problem f.d.a. observed was inadequate batch records so it was unclear what ingredient had gone into what products. there was also labeling issue,

f.d.a. took a bunch of samples and noticed the labels did not row flect what was in the product. so that's a couple. but as it always does try to work with the company to bring it into the compliance. so the agency pursued with the firm through letters and other ways to get the firm into compliance. f.d.a. went back in the beginning of 2008 and the issues of cross contamination were not rectified. they were thinking because of the cross contamination was why the consumer in the northwest had the issues. when the inspector went out in 2008 they found an active rodent infestation that was not

contained. there were rats running through facility that the f.d.a. was inspecting. there were bags of raw ingrid yeents that were -- ingredients that were gnawed through by the rodents. when they went into the blending room, there was still residue all over the place, but this time there were hundreds of rodent footprints in the residue on the platforms. the investigators found a half of a rat that had been cut in half and was sitting next to the scoop that was used to scoop the powder into the blenders. they knew it was half of the rat because they saw the other half of the rat a short distance away. there was also bright red blood coming out of it and that was a fresh kill. that was a severe concern to the

investigators. attorneys -- the other thing that happened in that inspection there was some indications that the product was interribly misbranded it. they might have intendially put the wrong ingredients in the product. the lawsuit was filed and we mitigate on f.d.a.'s behalf. as soon as the lawsuit was announced the costco dropped the product. that was at least $1 million worlt of product. they choice to mitigate the product even with the evidence we had. eventually the firm agreed to an agreement.

it requires the firm to do what is called an upfront shutdown. the firm is supposed to stop all operations and then the agreement provides a path forward so the firm can fire experts, they have to get a new f.d.a. inspect and they have to get written authorize from f.d.a. to resume operations. that is what they agreed to and now we're up to march 2010. in so in march 2010, the district of new jersey entered into an agreement in most cases that would end the case. as you can tell with me sitting here that did not end the case. it shut them down, it forbid them from receiving, manufacturing, preparing, packing, and labeling, and distributing food from their

location in nnk or any new location they operate. this case was just getting started. shortly after that was entered, f.d.a. got a tip that they did not shut down but they moved its operation someplace else. they were every day instructing their employees to arrive in their patterson plant, putting them in vans and driving them to a disclosed location. from there they were putting powder into tubs and sending them out to consumers. so the f.d.a. brought this and conducted a search warrant. that new location was in new york, which is about 30 miles north of northern new jersey up the garden state parkway. when they got there they found the employees sitting around tables putting powder into tubs.

it was a large operation that was hand packing and there was powder everywhere and the products were being produced there. at the exact same time the search warrant was being executed inspectors from the new jersey field office went to the facility in patterson, new jersey to conduct an inspection. there they asked the owner and one of their sons who they found there to -- for records relating to q.f.l. the owner and the son say there were no records. they said we know about the other place because there is something going on there then there were records. in addition to the records they found pregnancy vitamins that were on the way to united kingdom, they were ready for shipments. they also found other products shipped to that facility at the time the firm was supposed to be

doing nothing at all. to make a long story short, in july 2010, we petitioned the court to hold the company and the owner of the companies and the two sons involve inside this secret operation in contempt of the decree. they started a case against the companies. there were other things that happened but one has to do with this tub right here. in 2011, a month we were supposed to go to trial were calling around for witnesses if we could find other companies that got products from them when they were not supposed to be doing anything. we called a distributor and we asked them if they had gotten product from q.f.l. at the time they were supposed to be shut down and they said we were we're

supposed to pick up shipment tomorrow. agents conducted an undercover operation where we put an agent on the truck and videotaped them distributing pallets of products out of the patterson, new jersey warehouse and this was exhibit 805 and this was one of the tubs on that truck. so unfortunately, the defendants went to trial in may of 2011 in trenton, new jersey. they were convicted on all of the charges. the companies were fined a total of $1 million. the owner got a 40-month prison sentence and the two sons received prison sentences. they are in jail right now. the judge said this was unique in its persistent scope. i did not disagree. i do have to say they appealed

their convictions and the third circuit court of appeals in philadelphia remanded the sons back to the district court for fact finding so we're still litigating this case right now. it is likely they will ask the supreme court to review their convictions. >> patrick, for those in the audience and those watching on television, maybe they are horrified. they should be horrified by some of the things you said. when consumers are researching dietary supplements and if they are safe, what can they do other than what they do looking for a half rat sitting on top, what other steps can they do to find out whether the dietary supplements they are taking has been manufactured as they should be? >> well, i'm going to echo the other speakers here. one of the most important thing is research online possible

other complaints against the companies that are making the dietary supplements thatry -- they they are considering digesting. f.d.a. has a large database of warning letters that it has sent out to companies that identify manufacturing practice violations. so it is rare that -- for a case to get our office it has to go go through a lock process. f.d.a. issues more warning letters and advices companies that are engaged in practices that are unsafe to consumers. >> i want to thank the panelists very much. this was very educational for me and hopefully others as well. >> next the state department's 2013 international encourage awards. then the state funeral of hugo

chavez. then another look at the consumer protection summit at the justice department. >> on the next "washington journal," associated press reporter provides an analysis of the february job numbers. unemployment dropping to 7.7% with 236,000 jobs added. after that, clifford of the university of maryland on the new venture between freddie may and franny mac. "washington journal" is live 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> the united states pa tent and trade market is one of the few agency dez designated to exist in the constitution.

patents and trademarks are a fairly modern invention. the first patent was a royal grant given to inventers on their inventions and they were popular in england and kennel europe. this is for -- continental europe. this is a key aspect of the patent's offices role. every model has a tag with it. each of the tags is tied on by a piece of red riben. this piece of red riben is one of the -- ribbon is one of the supposed phrases of red tape. it is hard to tell that this was originally red ribbon that each one of these was tied on. it wasn't until the tag was tied on and the patent was approved that you would cut through all

the red tape. originally patent models were required to show the operation of an item. so each one of these models works, in the way that a full-scale version would work. >> this weekend on american history tv, tour the national inventers hall of fame and museum on american artifacts on c-span 3. >> next secretary of state john kerry and michelle obama honor the women of the women of the courage. it recognizes women around the world in advocating for women's rights. this is 45 minutes. [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you.

good afternoon, mrs. obama, secretary kerry, secretary, congresswoman edwards, minister of australia, all of you with us today. welcome to the u.s. department of state for the 7th annual celebration of the secretary of state's international women of courage awards. to mark the 102 an ver arise we celebrate women of courage from afghanistan, china, india, nigeria, russia, and vietnam. all countries i have had the privilege of visiting and meeting with extraordinary

women. today, i have the honor of introducing our extraordinary woman, our first lady michelle obama. [applause] i know our current secretary of state will permit me to say that we're very clear here at the state department. we are big fans of america's first ladies. [applause] throughout her life and as first lady michelle obama has always stepped up when faced with a challenge she not only faces it, she joins forces with those around her to make america and the world a better place.

whether it is ensuring our military men and women are cared for and have jobs to return to. encouraging our young people tolet move or doing the dougie on late night television. she engages us, she inspires us, and she empowers us to step up. michelle obama is about doing the right thing. she has stepped up her efforts on behalf of the american people and served alongside her husband with great distinction. in a moment of personal priviledge libbling i want to thank her for being another kind of woman of courage which is true of many women here on stage and in the hall and around the world and this is being a great

mom. [applause] every single day women get up and try to raise their families and have a good life for their children and she is a role model for all of us in that regard. so i hope you will please join me in welcoming the first lady of the united states michelle obama. [applause] >> let me begin by thanking you for that very kind and gracious introduction but also for your leadership on behalf our our country. i want to thank secretary kerry for hosting us today. needless to say we're thrilled to have you as our new secretary

of state for no other reason that i love your wife. you do know that. [applause] i love our secretary but to your wife is another woman of courage that is that has been a deer friend and supporter to me for a long time. it is just a thrill to have you both in this role. i als want to recognize the secretary, who can also do the dougie. i've seen it. all the administration officials, members of congress, and members of the diplomatic community has joined us today. i want to thank all of you for joining us this afternoon as we celebrate international women's day. this is the fifth time i've had the privilege in taking part in

this. every year i look forward to it because it shows us what our most basic challenges look like when they are put to the test. when they witness the disregard for human rights. they spoke up to see that justice was done. when they saw their communities or their countries were ignoring issues like sexual violence or women's rights, they gave those issues a face and a voice. with every act of stretchts and defiance, with every blog post, with every community these women have inspired millions to stand with them and find their own voices and work together to achieve real and lasting change. that is truly the power of the international courage award. this is a call for all of us to open our eyes for the injustices

around us and to ask ourself what kind of courage we have inside our own hearts. that is the lesson we can learn from the journalists who speaks out against torture and racism. to the poet who takes to twitter to take a stand against december presentation. a mother who -- depression. that is the spirit we celebrate today. that is the potential that lies within every woman and every girl. the poshe to stand up to demand action and to build a better world for the next generation. that is why we have once again, invited young women from our white house leadership and mentoring initiative to join us today. i would like you to stand because i do like to embarrass you, yes.

[applause] they are high school students from right here in the d.c. area. the one message to you is truly listen and let these women be your guide. in them, you can see no matter who you are or where you come from, if you're willing to dig deep enough and fight hard enough and believe strongly enough in yourself you can truly change the world. that's why we want you to be here every year. and the potential -- absolutely. [applause] -- and the potential that i see and all the young women across this world that reminds me that the rest of us must work to lift up the women and girls in our own communities because we know that when women and girls rise, their communities and their country rise with them.

it is true in honduras, syria, and right here in the united states. we saw that just yesterday when my husband signed the reauthorization of the violence against women act. [applause] so i want to thank everyone who worked so hard to ensure that victims of domestic abuse will always know that they will have somewhere to turn and someone on their side, and in the months ahead, in the years ahead, we must all do our part to build upon efforts like that one and learn from the example of the women that we honor today, because if we tackle the injustices and challenges in our lives, with even a fraction of their strength and dedication, then i know that we can meet any challenge that comes our way. 2 if we encourage the young people around us to fight every single day for what they know is right.

if we break down any barrier that stands in the way of a young woman getting her education or believing she can achieve her dreams, then i am confident that we'll finally unlock the promise of our next generation, and then no matter what part of the world we call home, we'll all be better off. we will all be stronger and freer. we will all be more prepared, not only to solve the problems we face today, but to overcome any obstacle we can imagine in the years and the decades ahead. so thank you. thank you all for your tremendous contributions to our world, we are so honored and privileged and grateful. god bless you all. [applause] and now it's my honor to turn this program over to secretary kerry. kerry. [applause]