The product became highly successful due to a marketing plan that enlisted customers to advertise and sell the supplement;[3] at their peak, sales of Metabolife 356 were in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
[15] Metabolife took an active role in lobbying against regulation of ephedra, forming an advocacy group called the Dietary Supplement Safety and Science Coalition and contributing heavily to Congressmen Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.
[4] At the state level, Metabolife contributed $10,000 to then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush, who intervened to stop regulation which would have banned over-the-counter sales of ephedra.
[16] Metabolife owner William Bradley also pleaded guilty to evading millions of dollars in taxes and was sentenced to 6 months in federal prison and 2 years of probation.
[18][19][20][21] Compton had assisted the company in setting up secret offshore bank accounts and trusts in the Cayman Islands and was aware that Bradley, Ellis, and Blevins each had over $1 million in unreported cash concealed in safes within their homes.
[20] Some of the politicians associated with Metabolife also encountered legal difficulties; Texas state legislators Jeff Wentworth and Rick Green were accused of illegal lobbying on behalf of the company.
[1] The company's furnishings and property, including a large collection of artwork, were liquidated in late 2006 to compensate creditors and settle outstanding personal-injury claims.