The North American Securities Administrators Association has
alerted investors to scams that are commonly seen throughout the
United States, and Corporations wants investors to be aware of the
most prevalent schemes that harm both consumers and legitimate
investment businesses in California. Variable Annuities Sales. military and their families. However,
a fraudulent escrow company will lure unsuspecting buyers or
sellers to transact business through their Web site and then keep
the funds and/or goods.
"Ironically, the FTC is guilty of the very same kind of false advertising
for which the Commission habitually sues U.
ISI signed an asset purchase agreement on July 1 to acquire assets of
Metabolife, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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The formula is simple: Promise high returns to investors and use
their money to pay previous investors. Scammers promise investors tantalizingly high
rates of return on investments by including a bonus payment to
attract investors.

12.

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Military Fraud. Wrong Numbers and Stock Tips Scam.

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Con artists often try to make money out
of tragedy. Purchases through online auction sites
such as eBay have become a popular arena for fraud. For further information or to obtain a complaint form, please
visit Corporations ' Web site at www. Trudeau details
how the Commission misled the mass media, including major newswires and
newspapers, to broadly disseminate false and injurious information.Y.

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Low interest rates, rising health care
costs and an increased life expectancy have set seniors up as
targets for con artists peddling investment fraud, including
promissory notes, charitable gift annuities and viatical
settlements .

2. Online escrow
services are often used for expensive online purchases such as
computers , electronics, jewelry, and cars. It is unacceptable for the government to spread
misinformation, which it knows to be false," said Bradford. Despite several
good faith attempts to negotiate with Metabolife to restructure the agreement
to reflect the current state of the business, Metabolife consistently refused
to open any such discussions, and ISI invoked its contractual right to
terminate the agreement.

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S. Living Trust Mills and Other Pretext Solicitations to Seniors. These seminars misrepresent the actual business of the
sales representative and the true purpose of the solicitation. Bait and Switch Schemes.gov or call 1-866-ASK-CORP
(1-866-275-2677).
The false representations breach a settlement agreement that Mr.

About IdeaSphere Inc.
IdeaSphere Inc.

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----The California
Department of Corporations (Corporations), California's securities
regulator , today issued a list of its "Dirty Dozen" Investment Scams
for 2005 and a warning to investors to thoroughly investigate new
investment opportunities before handing over their money.
The following is the list of Corporations' "Dirty Dozen"
Investment Scams for 2005 in California:

1. Senior Investment Fraud.
Corporations' SAIF (Senior Against Investment Fraud) program
regularly receives large numbers of complaints from the elderly on
living trust mills.

8.
"The media was representing in good faith what the FTC was saying.
Unfortunately, the fountain of this misinformation , the FTC, has misled the
press and the public.

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Con
artists have also sent these fraudulent messages through e-mails
and faxes.
Among numerous other specific damages, TV announcer Ed McMahon apparently
cancelled an interview that would have promoted Mr. (ISI), owner of
the Twinlab, Nature 's Herbs and Alvita Teas brands and Rebus Publishing,
yesterday told a US Bankruptcy Court it has invoked its right to terminate the
asset purchase agreement filed earlier this year to acquire certain assets of
Metabolife International Inc. However, the asset purchase
agreement included provisions requiring Metabolife to operate the business in
the ordinary course during the bankruptcy.

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Wood.

As sales of variable annuities have
risen, so have complaints from investors -- most notably, the
omission of disclosure about costly surrender charges and steep
sales commissions.

9.ca .

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3.

11.
Acting in good faith, major media outlets disseminated the FTC's false
information, which appeared in an Associated Press report last September." It also agreed that there was "no
fine, penalty or punitive assessment., IdeaSphere, Inc.

CONTACT: Mark Fox of IdeaSphere, Inc.

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Investors should be very wary about
advertising in which a particular investment promises spectacular
profits, but investors have to be lured into the office to get it. The sales agent then switches an investor into
a different investment.

In an effort to combat online escrow fraud, Corporations has
issued Desist and Refrain orders to 41 Internet escrow providers since
spring 2004 to shut down fraudulent escrow sites and formed the Escrow
Fraud Task Force, a collaboration of state and federal regulators, law
enforcement, industry groups, and businesses. Reaffirms Desire to Purchase Assets at Appropriate Value

HAUPPAUGE, N.
Mark Fox, president of ISI, stated that ISI continues to be interested in
acquiring the Metabolife assets if an accord can be reached on an appropriate
valuation for those assets, which include the company's core non-ephedra
brands: Metabolife Ultra, Metabolife Complete, Metabolife Ultra Caffeine Free
and Metabolife Green Tea Formula.

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Business Editors

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Affinity Group Fraud. Legitimate online
escrow companies act as a neutral third party that holds payment
for merchandise until the buyer receives the merchandise.

Fox said ISI approached Metabolife in good faith to correct these
deficiencies and protect the valuation of the assets, but the bankrupt company
would not even discuss any changes, forcing ISI to invoke the termination
clause in the agreement.

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Donors need to check out the charity
carefully, demand details, beware of excessive pressure, and make
sure any donations are tax deductible.

10. Some people are finding
that they have received a "misdialed " call from a stranger,
leaving a "hot" investment tip for a friend. The firm paid the bonus out of its own pocket;
investors were tricked into sales of annuities.S. Trudeau is seeking remedies for that breach
of contract in separate lawsuits against the Commission.
In an agreement to settle prior litigation then pending in the United
States District Court before the Northern District of Illinois, the government
expressly acknowledged that "[t]here have been no findings or admissions of
wrongdoing or liability by [Kevin Trudeau].

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The fines will be used for restitution to
affected investors with the balance used for investor education
for the U.
McMahon's wife read the FTC press release.
IdeaSphere intends to continue to work in good faith with Metabolife to
determine if an asset purchase can be consummated, but will also be moving
forward through applicable bankruptcy court procedure to secure the return of
its $2 million deposit if no agreement can be reached. is a purpose-built, vertically integrated health and
wellness company.
IdeaSphere 's family of companies includes leaders in wellness products,
content, and services.

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E-mail scammers are sending
out pleas for help from phony survivors, invading recipients'
computers and stealing financial and other information from those
who click on links in the documents. Mr. The family of companies includes Twinlab Corporation,
Nature's Herbs and Alvita Teas, as well as Rebus Health Media , a leading
consumer health and science content developer and publisher.

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4.

5. Predatory salespeople target military recruits
and active military service personnel who are misled into
purchasing unsuitable investment products.

7. The
real goal of the sales agent is to obtain detailed personal
financial information, which will then be used to sell the senior
an unsuitable or unlawful financial or investment product. In an Asian
community in California, a finance lender charged in excess of 200
percent interest in some cases. The message is
designed to sound as if the caller didn't realize that he or she
was leaving a hot stock tip on the wrong message machine. Trudeau had been banned from
infomercials; falsely implied that the courts had declared Trudeau guilty of
false advertising; and falsely implied that he had been fined $2 million.

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There may be con artists attempting to collect money
under the guise of being involved in the tsunami relief effort or
by offering phony bonds to finance the reconstruction of areas
affected by the disaster. One of the riskiest investment products,
viatical contracts are interests in the death benefits of life
insurance policies. ISI recently discovered that
Metabolife did not meet its obligations under the agreement .

* Metabolife failed to sustain marketing and advertising to support
product sales , spending only $34,000 in July and August rather than the
$900,000 set forth in its projections .

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The firm agreed to pay $12
million following findings that the plans were sold in a
misleading fashion. Once in the office to purchase the investment,
the sales agent discourages the investor from investing in the
advertised product.

* The company lost sales with clients in the mass retail sector including
Costco.

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Corporations advises potential investors to protect themselves
from becoming victims of fraud by doing their homework before making
an investment .
Most recently, Corporations launched a sweep of broker-dealer
offices statewide to weed out fraudulent sales practices of
variable annuities. These investments are extremely risky for
numerous reasons , including difficulty predicting life expectancy,
the promoter not paying policy premiums as promised , or the
promoter simply stealing the investor's money. Corporations is responsible for the regulation ,
enforcement and licensing of securities, franchises, off-exchange
commodities, investment and financial services, independent escrows,
consumer and commercial finance lending and residential mortgage
lending. Bradford. Trudeau was found guilty of false
advertising and was fined $2 million ."
In correspondence to Metabolife, ISI outlined in detail some of the
specific material changes to the Metabolife business that had forced their
decision to terminate the agreement, including:

* As much as 30 percent of Metabolife inventory expired or was soon to
expire. It provides total wellness solutions through its entities,
which include leaders in wellness products , content, and services.

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Charity/Tsunami Scam. The NASD, together with
the SEC, recently settled a major mutual fund practice case
against a firm that specialized in selling expensive systematic
investment plans to military personnel.

Sites opposed to business opportunities (especially MLMs).

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"These schemes offer products and pitches with unrealistically
high returns that may sound tempting to many investors ," said
Corporations Commissioner William P. Investors can contact Corporations before they invest
to check the registration status of the investment they are
considering and/or the licensing status of the person who is selling
it through a toll-free telephone number, 1-866-ASK-CORP
(1-866-275 -2677). Seniors are particularly targeted because they often
have access to a large amount of assets as a result of a lifetime
of savings and buildup of home equity. Ponzi/Pyramid Schemes. Typically an unknown company is offering
eye-popping returns from some plausible sounding, but vaguely
described business activity. Members of closely-knit religious,
ethnic, and cultural groups are targeted by con artists who share
or claim to share their characteristics or interest. It
was picked up by news outlets around the country while separate regurgitations
of the unfounded allegations appeared in major outlets from the Washington
Post to CNN. businesses," said David
Bradford, a partner at Jenner + Block in Chicago who filed the motion on Mr.
Trudeau's behalf.
"The FTC's actions against Mr.
Trudeau in language that directly contradicts the terms of the settlement
agreement by falsely implying that Mr.

IdeaSphere Terminates Agreement to Purchase Metabolife Assets

terminate barred

California Issues ''Dirty Dozen'' Investment Scams for 2005

"If the investment
opportunity sounds too good to be true, it usually is," Wood added. Such schemes are often spread by word
of mouth through groups such as churches, ethnic groups, or
professional affiliations, frequently in an atmosphere of secrecy .

6. National Consumer Advocate Files Motion to Block Further False Advertising
by the Federal Trade Commission

CHICAGO, Kevin Trudeau, consumer activist and
author of the bestseller, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About,
today took the next step in his fight to stop the campaign of false
advertising against him by the Federal Trade Commission . In the brief, Mr. Trudeau's book after Mr."
Within days, however, the FTC issued the news release maligning Mr. "However, because Metabolife has not operated its business
consistent with past practices as required by the agreement, we can no longer
justify the original bid, as the value of those assets has diminished
considerably over the past several months.

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These surrender charges and high fees combine
with other factors to make variable annuities inappropriate for
many investors, particularly for purchases in retirement accounts. Investors get a share of the death benefit
when the insured later dies, after a fee is paid to the viatical
investment broker. CD + Bonuses. Online Escrow Fraud .

Trudeau has filed today a motion for a preliminary injunction that
would require the FTC to remove or correct a misleading and injurious "press
release" currently posted on its website . In
fact, there has been no judicial finding of false advertising whatsoever nor
has a fine been levied., a maker of diet and nutritional supplements.
"We made a premium bid for the Metabolife assets in July because we
believed they could be integrated very efficiently into our existing structure
and operations, and the products were a good fit for our brand portfolio,"
said Fox.

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In an enforcement action brought by
Corporations, a firm offered one-year certificates of deposits
(CDs) that were purportedly FDIC-insured with yields substantially
higher than those actually available from any actual FDIC-insured
institution.
The Department of Corporations is California's Investment and
Financing Authority. Trudeau do not even begin to meet the FTC's
own standards," said Mr.
"We remain interested in acquiring these assets, and we plan to file a new
offer to purchase the assets for $14 million, at a price that more accurately
reflects the value of the assets today," said Fox.

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Viatical Settlements. Last year,
Corporations obtained a judgment of $20 million against a
fraudulent viatical investment firm in San Diego. The initial approach to clients may be to
solicit seniors at "seminars" purportedly designed to educate
participants about the benefits of living trusts or other estate
planning subjects such as Medi-Cal planning or general financial
planning.
This is the bait.corp.

Kevin Trudeau Charges FTC with Intentionally Misleading the Press

Mr.
The FTC release falsely stated that Mr. Trudeau
had hammered out with the FTC., +1-631-467-3140 x8299.