19/2/2018 Mark R.

Hughes - Wikipedia

Mark R. Hughes
Mark Rey nolds Hughes (January 1, 1956 – May 21, 2000) was an American businessman who was
Mark R. Hughes
the founder, chairman and CEO of Herbalife International Ltd, a multi-lev el marketing company .

Hughes was born in Los Angeles County , California USA in 1956. Hughes died at age 44 [1]

Contents
Early life
Pre-Herbalife career and first marriage
Career
Death
References
External links Born January 1, 1956
La Mirada, California
Died May 21, 2000
Early life (aged 44)
Mark Rey nolds Hughes was born to father Stuard Hartman (not "Stuart", per birth certificate) and Malibu, CA
mother Jo Ann Hughes. His parents div orced in 197 0, when Mark was 14, and his mother retained Known for Founding Herbalife
custody of Mark. Parent(s) Stuard Hartman
At this point, the family surv iv ed on welfare pay ments with Hughes' mother suffering from “emotional
Jack Reynolds (per
problems.” She battled obesity and tension v ia amphetamines and sleeping pills. [2] In the ninth grade
Herbalife)
Hughes dropped out of school and began using drugs himself. “I was a little delinquent,” he say s. “I got
Jo Ann Hughes (d. 27-
in trouble with the law.” [2][3] At 16, he was sent to CEDU High School, a priv ate residential school for
Apr-1975, overdose)

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troubled y oungsters in Running Springs, CA whose origins went back to a cult founded in 1958. [2][4][5][6]
Part of Hughes' CEDU rehab required him to raise money by selling raffle tickets. Hughes became the
school’s best salesman. “The approv al there was based on how much funds y ou raised,” Hughes told
People magazine in 1985. “There was a lot of pressure, and I wanted to be the best right away .” [2]

Hughes was 19 y ears old and still working for CEDU when his mother died in her apartment of a
accidental drug ov erdose on April 27 , 197 5. [7] According to the autopsy report, sev eral empty v ials of
prescription drugs were found beside her bed, and her doctor told the coroner she "was known to ov er-
ingest her prescription drugs."[7] Toxicological tests showed potentially lethal lev els of the painkiller
Darv on in her sy stem. [8]

Pre-Herbalife career and first marriage

In 197 6, the 20-y ear-old Hughes began selling diet products for Sey forth Laboratories, a multilev el
marketer, becoming one of its top 100 earners. After Sey forth collapsed in 197 9, Hughes then sold
Mark Hughes, in the early days of
exercise equipment and weight-control products for a company called Golden Y outh, also a direct-sales
Herbalife
outfit. It was while working for Golden Y outh in 197 9 that Hughes met Kathry n Whiting, the first of four
beauty pageant winners he would marry on the beach. Whiting, a former "Miss Santa Monica," was then a
21-y ear old college student pursuing a degree in medical science. When Golden Y outh also went out of business, Hughes decided to start his own
operation. [9][2][10]

Career
In February 1980, aged 24, Hughes founded Los Angeles-based Herbalife International. It has since become one of the world's largest distributors
of herbal products through multi-lev el marketing, with sales of about $3.5 billion in 2007 and 2.1 million Independent Distributors. Now in 91
countries and achiev ing record retail sales of $7 .5 billion in 2013 according to company statements. [11]

In the mid-1980s, Hughes was sued by the Food and Drug Administration, the California attorney general's office, and the state Department of
Health, ov er what they said were false health claims about Herbalife products and the v arious schemes used to market them. [12] Health agencies
accused the company of v iolating labeling standards and using improper sales practices. [7]

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Regulators contended that the company was making medicinal claims. Medicines are regulated by the F.D.A., while nutritional supplements are
not. Some health experts doubted the efficacy of Herbalife products, say ing that in some instances they relied too heav ily on laxativ es and
caffeine. [7]

In March 1985, the California attorney general and the state Department of Health Serv ices charged him and Herbalife with making "untrue or
misleading" product claims—primarily inv olv ing the caffeine content of some Herbalife products—and operating an "endless chain marketing
scheme."[7]

Prompted by complaints alleging that Herbalife product users had suffered illness and death, a U.S. Senate subcommittee called Hughes before a
hearing in May . Referring to a panel of nutrition experts who had criticized Herbalife in testimony the prev ious day , he asked the senators, "If
they 're such experts in weight loss, why were they so fat?"[7]

During the hearing, Hughes acknowledged that his own formal education stopped at the 9th grade. When asked during the hearing how he could
be qualified to challenge leading medical experts, Hughes responded: "I defy any body to be able to produce results as this company has."[13]

Hughes reached settlements with the regulatory agencies in 1986. To settle his problems with the state, Hughes agreed to pay $850,000. At the
time, the California attorney general, John Van De Kamp, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as say ing it was the largest settlement ever
attained from a health products company. [8]

In December 1991, Hughes' and his third wife, Suzan Hughes, had a son, Alexander Rey nolds "Alex" Hughes. [14]

Death
On the night of Saturday , May 20, 2000, Hughes celebrated the 87 th birthday of his maternal grandmother, Hazel (known as Mimi). It was a
priv ate gathering, with a few family members joining him at his mansion in Malibu for the ev ening. Out of the public limelight, Hughes drank white
wine, smoked a cigar and play ed his drum set.

Hughes was try ing to buy up all outstanding shares of Herbalife and take the company priv ate once more. The stress and long hours had taken a
toll on his health; he was recov ering from a recurrence of pneumonia. The treatment inv olv ed corticosteroids, which made sleeping difficult. His
phy sician prescribed the drug doxepin, a tricy clic antidepressant, for the insomnia.

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On May 21, 2000, authorities said that Mark Hughes died of an accidental ov erdose after mixing alcohol with a "toxic lev el" of antidepressants.
Scott Carrier, of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, said final autopsy results found that Hughes, 44, had ingested a toxic combination of
alcohol and Doxepin, an antidepressant he was taking to help him sleep. [8] His blood-alcohol lev el was measured at 0.21. [15]

Hughes' then 9-y ear-old son, Alexander "Alex" Hughes, was named sole beneficiary of his father's estate, estimated to be worth $400 million.
Hughes's will stipulated that, until Alex turns 35, the bulk of his inheritance would be held in a trust managed by Hughes' father, Jack Rey nolds,
attorney Conrad Klein, and Herbalife executiv e Christopher Pair. [16][17] In 2006, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled to remov e Rey nolds from
superv ising a $35 million custodianship after finding that he v iolated multiple probate laws by ceding control to Klein and commingling Alex's
personal assets with partnership accounts. [18] Rey nolds was suspended, [18] but remained one of three trustees until 2013, when a judge in a
separate lawsuit ordered the remov al of all three for breaching the terms of the Trust by mismanaging the funds. [19]

References
1. "Binge Led ot Death of Herbalife Founder" (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/12/business/binge-led-to-death-of-herbalife-founder.html). New York
Times. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
2. "Despite Critics and Lawsuits, Herbalife Has Made Mark Hughes Wealthy If Not Healthy" (http://people.com/archive/despite-critics-and-lawsuits-herbalif
e-has-made-mark-hughes-wealthy-if-not-healthy-vol-23-no-17/). Retrieved 2017-03-16.
3. "Safety, Methods Questioned : Herbalife: Weighty Profits and Government Probes" (http://articles.latimes.com/print/1985-04-04/news/mn-19575_1_her
balife-products). Retrieved 2017-03-16.
4. "The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry" (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/cult-spawned-tough-love-teen-industry). Mother
Jones. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
5. "Synanon -CEDU - Brown Schools Medical Whistleblower" (http://medicalwhistleblowernetwork.jigsy.com/cedu-brown-schools).
medicalwhistleblowernetwork .jigsy.com. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
6. "The History of Synanon and Charles Dederich" (http://www.paulmorantz.com/cult/the-history-of-synanon-and-charles-dederich/).
www.paulmorantz.com. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
7. Shuit, Douglas P. (May 22, 2000), "Mark Hughes, Founder of Herbalife, Dies at 44" (http://articles.latimes.com/2000/may/22/local/me-32795), Los
Angeles Times, retrieved November 28, 2016
8. Copage, Eric V. (May 23, 2000), "Mark R. Hughes, 44; Founded Nutrition Supplement Concern" (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/business/mark-r
-hughes-44-founded-nutrition-supplement-concern.html), The New York Times, retrieved November 28, 2016
9. "Herbalife's Mark Hughes" (http://williamstadiem.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/HerbalLifesMarkHughes_TelegraphMagazine.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved
2017-03-16.
10. "Death and Denial at Herbalife" (http://articles.latimes.com/print/2001/feb/18/magazine/tm-26780). Retrieved 2017-03-16.
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11. Copage, Eric V. (2000-05-23). "Mark R. Hughes, 44; Founded Nutrition Supplement Concern" (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/business/mark-r-h
ughes-44-founded-nutrition-supplement-concern.html). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved
2017-06-07.
12. "Herbalife And Mark Hughes - A Success Story?" (http://explosivemlm.com/herbalife-mlm-companies/mark-hughes-herbalife/). ExplosiveMLM.com.
Retrieved 2017-06-07.
13. Jackson, Robert L. (May 16, 1985), "Testifies at Stormy Senate Hearing: Herbalife President Calls Diet Powders, Pills Safe" (http://articles.latimes.co
m/1985-05-16/news/mn-17421_1_diet-powders), Los Angeles Times, retrieved November 28, 2016
14. Heller, Matthew (February 18, 2001), "Death and Denial at Herbalife" (http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/18/magazine/tm-26780/5), Los Angeles
Times, p. 5, retrieved November 28, 2016
15. "Autopsy on Herbalife founder finds death caused by accidental overdose" (https://web.archive.org/web/20141110050145/http://edition.cnn.com/2000/U
S/06/17/hughes.death/), CNN, June 17, 2000, archived from the original (http://edition.cnn.com/2000/US/06/17/hughes.death/) on November 10, 2014
16. Townsend, Mark (September 17, 2005), "Legal battle rages around America's richest teenager" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/18/usa.th
eobserver1), The Observer, The Guardian, retrieved November 28, 2016
17. Cumings, Stephanie (September 30, 2015), "Herbalife Heir Can't Object to Settlement Agreement" (http://www.bna.com/herbalife-heir-cant-n579820589
99/), Bloomberg BNA, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., retrieved November 28, 2016
18. Heller, Matthew (November 13, 2006), "Judge Fires Custodian of Herbalife Heir's $40 Million" (http://www.onpointnews.com/061113.asp), On Point
News, Courthouse News Service, retrieved November 28, 2016
19. McEvoy, Ciaran. "Trustees Kicked From Herbalife Founder's $330M Estate" (http://www.law360.com/articles/426266/trustees-kicked-from-herbalife-foun
der-s-330m-estate). Law360. Retrieved November 28, 2016.

External links
Official website (http://www.herbalife.com)

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This page was last edited on 20 January 2018, at 14:55.

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