Corporate Misconduct Case Study: NextMed and Its Impact on Weight-Loss Patients
A False Promise in the Pursuit of Health
Imagine you’re struggling with your weight and see a hopeful ad online. For just $99 a month, a company called NextMed promises “Personalized, Doctor-Backed Weight Loss Medicine” , featuring popular new drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. You see powerful testimonials: “Connor” lost 51 lbs; “Ava from Utah” shed 33 lbs in just 12 weeks. The reviews on trusted sites like Trustpilot are glowing.
So you sign up. But the hope quickly turns to a nightmare. You discover the $99 fee doesn’t include the actual medication, which costs over $1,000 a month out-of-pocket. You learn you’ve been locked into a secret one-year contract with an early termination fee.
When you try to cancel, you’re met with delays and obstacles. And worst of all, you learn the truth: “Connor” and “Ava” were paid actors, and the glowing reviews were part of a systematic campaign of deception. This was the reality for thousands of consumers, according to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The Corporate Playbook: A Masterclass in Digital Deception
The FTC alleges that NextMed, run by founder Robert S. Epstein and CEO Frank Pat Leonardo, III, built its business on a foundation of calculated deception designed to capitalize on the “skyrocketing interest” in new weight-loss drugs. Their playbook was a multi-pronged assault on consumer trust.
- Deceptive Pricing and Hidden Contracts: The company’s ads promoted low monthly fees, leading customers to believe the expensive medication was included. Internal communications revealed executives were aware of the confusion. When customers complained, CEO Frank Leonardo called them “f**king idiots”. Founder Robert Epstein admitted the practice was “kind of a scam otherwise”. Meanwhile, customers were unknowingly enrolled in year-long memberships that were hidden in fine print.
- Fabricated Testimonials: NextMed’s success stories were pure fiction. The company hired actors through Craigslist and other platforms to create fake video testimonials. They even used their own executives—CEO Frank Leonardo claimed to have lost 105 lbs, and founder Robert Epstein’s mother, “Pam,” was featured as a success story. None of them had used NextMed’s program or GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.
- Manipulated Online Reviews: NextMed systematically faked its online reputation. The FTC alleges Leonardo directed staff to post “fake positive reviews” on Trustpilot, discussed using VPNs to evade detection, and asked for a full-time staff member to handle the task. They also selectively disputed negative reviews and offered Amazon gift cards or refunds to customers who agreed to remove their negative comments.
- The Cancellation Trap: When disillusioned customers tried to flee, they found it nearly impossible. The company was allegedly understaffed to handle the volume of requests. The complaint cites a message from Leonardo to his team: “we really cannot cancel subscriptions unless people dispute [with their credit card company]. Even if somebody cancels, put it on pause”.
A Cascade of Consequences: Economic Harm and an Erosion of Trust
The fallout from NextMed’s alleged scheme was significant. Over 25,000 customers requested to cancel their memberships between March 2022 and July 2023, a clear indicator of widespread consumer harm.
- Economic Ruin: Customers were financially injured, trapped in recurring charges for a service that failed to deliver on its primary promise. The company’s high rate of credit card chargebacks was so extreme that one of its payment processors terminated their relationship.
- Erosion of Community Trust: The most profound damage was to the fabric of trust that underpins the digital marketplace. NextMed’s alleged actions poisoned the well of information that consumers rely on to make crucial health and financial decisions. By faking testimonials and rigging reviews, they turned tools of empowerment into weapons of deception.
A System Designed for This: Profit, Deregulation, and Power
This section is analysis.
NextMed’s story is a quintessential example of predatory capitalism thriving in the digital age’s regulatory gaps. NextMed was hardcore in that they adopted deception as its core business model. This case reflects a toxic “growth-at-all-costs” mentality, where customer acquisition is prioritized over ethics, and consumers are viewed not as patients seeking help, but as targets to be manipulated.
The internal communications cited by the FTC—where executives acknowledge the “scam” while simultaneously mocking their victims—reveal a culture of profound cynicism. This is a well known feature of our exploitative neoliberal system that often rewards aggressive, ethically bankrupt behavior, especially in a trendy, high-demand market like telehealth and weight-loss medication.
Dodging Accountability: A Culture of Impunity
The FTC’s complaint paints a picture of a company that actively sought to evade accountability at every turn.
From using VPNs to hide their fake reviews to creating intentional roadblocks for customers seeking refunds, NextMed’s actions were those of an organization that believed it could operate above the law. Their efforts to silence unhappy customers with gift cards were not acts of customer service, but attempts to scrub the public record of their failures. It took a federal investigation to begin the process of holding them accountable.
Reclaiming Power: Pathways to Real Change
The FTC’s lawsuit is a critical step in reclaiming power for consumers. But to prevent the next NextMed from emerging, broader, systemic reforms are necessary. This includes:
- Stricter Regulation of Telehealth Advertising: The law must catch up to technology, with clear rules and harsh penalties for misleading claims about prescription medications online.
- Platform Accountability: Review sites like Trustpilot must be held to a higher standard, with greater responsibility for proactively identifying and removing fraudulent and manipulated reviews.
- Simplified Cancellation Mandates: Laws should mandate simple, one-click cancellation processes for all online subscriptions, eliminating the ability of companies to trap consumers in a maze of customer service delays.
Conclusion: A Story of a System, Not an Exception
NextMed is an educational case study of what happens when consumer desperation meets a deregulated digital marketplace fueled by product hype.
The company’s alleged actions represent a systemic failure, demonstrating how easily the tools of modern marketing and e-commerce can be weaponized to exploit vulnerable people.
This single legal document is a window into a much larger crisis, reminding us that without robust regulation and vigorous enforcement, the pursuit of profit will too often trample on truth, ethics, and the well-being of the public.
All factual claims in this article were derived from the attached court document: The Federal Trade Commission Complaint, Docket No. 232-3040, against Southern Health Solutions, Inc., Robert S. Epstein, and Frank Pat Leonardo, III.
Click here for a press release on the FTC’s website on NextMed: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/07/ftc-takes-action-against-telemedicine-firm-nextmed-over-charges-it-used-misleading-prices-fake
NextMed’s LinkedIn page has 1.2k followers as of right now. I wonder how many of those are real life legitimate fans and not paid actors? 20? 12? I bet it’s less than 6.
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