Amway’s $225 Million FTC Settlement: The Order Says $221 Million Is Already Held in Escrow for the FTC. There Is Still No Claim Form and No Payout Date — and the Email Amway Must Send Current and Former IBOs Won’t Mention Refunds

The Amway FTC settlement announced on September 17, 2026 is not a class action, and so far there is no claim form. The Federal Trade Commission and Washington State filed a complaint and a proposed order against Amway Corp. and two of its largest “approved provider” groups, World Wide Group (WWG) and Leadership Team Development (LTD). According to the FTC’s announcement, the order imposes a $225 million judgment, “nearly all of which will go to IBOs recruited by WWG and LTD who lost money.” On how that will happen, it says only this: “Information on the FTC’s redress program for this case will be provided at a later date.”

When we checked on September 29, 2026, Amway was not yet on the FTC’s list of refund programs. The FTC’s refund FAQ explains how such programs usually work: “Most FTC cases do not require you to file a claim. FTC court orders typically require the defendants to provide a list of customers, along with their contact information, and how much they paid.” If the agency lacks that data, it may ask people to file claims, and “information about how to file a claim will be available at www.ftc.gov/refunds.” The Amway order includes such a data clause. If the FTC asks in writing for information related to redress, the companies “must provide it to the Commission within 14 days.” The FTC has not yet said whether it will pay people directly from that data or open a claims process.

A warning in the FTC’s own words: “The FTC never requires you to pay upfront fees or asks you for sensitive information, like your Social Security number or bank account information. If someone claims to be from the FTC and asks for money, it’s a scam.” A genuine FTC payment or claim form, the FAQ adds, comes with details about the case, and the case is listed at ftc.gov/refunds with the name of the company issuing payments and a phone number for questions.

Section VIII of the proposed stipulated order splits the judgment into four parts. Amway Corp. owes the FTC $154,700,000. World Wide Group owes $39,780,000 and Leadership Team Development owes $26,520,000, and Amway is jointly and severally liable for both of those amounts as well. Together that makes $221,000,000 for the FTC (our arithmetic). For each of the three payments, the order records the defendants’ stipulation that the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP “holds in escrow for no purpose other than payment to the Commission.” Each is due “within 7 days of entry of this Order.”

The remaining $4,000,000 goes to Washington State, not to consumers. The order lists its purposes: “costs and reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by Washington in pursuing this matter”, monitoring and enforcing the order, future enforcement of the state’s Consumer Protection Act, or any lawful purpose of the Attorney General. It is due within 30 days of entry, by check. That puts about 98 percent of the $225 million in the FTC’s share (our arithmetic: $221 million ÷ $225 million = 98.2%).

The FTC’s money “may be deposited into a fund administered by the Commission or its designee to be used for nationwide consumer relief.” If the FTC decides that direct redress is impracticable, or if money is left over, it may spend the rest on related relief. “Any money not used for relief is to be deposited to the U.S. Treasury.” The companies “neither admit nor deny” the allegations. The Commission voted 2-0 to file the case.

Both agencies describe the people in line for the money the same way. The FTC says IBOs “recruited by WWG and LTD who lost money.” Washington’s Attorney General says “participants across the country who lost money after being recruited by Amway’s affiliates” and adds: “Thousands of Washingtonians may be eligible for compensation that the FTC will administer.” The order itself does not say who qualifies, for which years or how much each person gets. The complaint gives a sense of scale: in 2023, WWG had more than 35,000 IBOs and LTD more than 28,000. Those are one-year figures, and the FTC has not said how many people qualify, so no per-person amount can be calculated yet.

The complaint also describes what losing money looked like. WWG IBOs who started between 2020 and 2023 and had a financial transaction with Amway averaged between about $175 (2023 starters) and about $630 (2020 starters) in total bonuses and online retail margin through March 2024. In LTD, the range was about $175 to $535. In both groups the medians were under $100, and the complaint says these amounts were less than what members spent on Amway products and less than what they spent on training. According to the complaint, WWG’s membership, messaging app and major-event tickets alone cost one person over $2,100 a year. LTD’s annual costs ran from over $1,600 to over $3,600.

If the judge signs the order, current and former IBOs will get an email about it: within 7 days of entry, Amway must email a notice to everyone in the United States who took part in its marketing plan at any time between January 1, 2021 and the day the order is entered. Where an email fails, Amway must send the notice by first-class mail within 15 days of entry. The order fixes the exact text (Appendix B), and “No information other than that contained in Appendix B shall be included in or added to the notice.” That text summarizes the allegations, says the companies do not admit or deny them, announces changes to the compensation plan and rules, and points to the FTC’s case page. It does not mention refunds or payments to IBOs. The email list is also a different group: every U.S. participant since 2021, while the FTC describes its refund group as IBOs recruited by WWG and LTD who lost money. Getting the email therefore tells you nothing about whether you will be paid.

The case is Federal Trade Commission and State of Washington v. Amway Corp. et al., No. 2:26-cv-03474, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. On September 17, 2026, the complaint was filed together with the FTC’s unopposed motion asking the court to enter the stipulated order. The case was assigned to Judge Jamal N. Whitehead on September 18. The FTC notes that “Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.” On September 29, the FTC’s case page still listed the case as “Pending.” The latest entry in the public docket copy we checked (CourtListener) was the September 18 judge assignment. We could not confirm with the court itself whether the order has been signed since then. We will update this page when it is.

Once the judge signs, the $221 million is due within 7 days. Refunds take longer. The FTC’s FAQ says: “We cannot send payments until all legal action is complete, and we have collected the money from the defendants.” It adds: “It is our goal to send payments within 6 months of receiving the data and money necessary for distribution.”

Two earlier FTC refund programs against multilevel marketers show how different the timelines can be. The FTC sued Herbalife in 2016, and the company agreed to pay $200 million. The FTC mailed the first checks in January 2017 and a second round in May 2019, together nearly $194.3 million, then a third round of more than $4.2 million in 2023. AdvoCare, sued in 2019, agreed to pay $150 million, and the FTC returned more than $149 million in May 2022. There, not every distributor qualified: the FTC said people may be eligible if they “reached Advisor level, spent much more on products than you got in rewards, and met other criteria.” How the Amway fund will be divided, the FTC has not said.

The order also changes how Amway’s business opportunity may work in the U.S. According to the FTC’s summary:

• IBOs must sell to others at least 70 percent of the products they buy from Amway each month.
• Recruiters get substantially less if the people they recruit buy products but do not resell them.
• IBOs must report every customer sale promptly, with the actual price, and Amway sends receipts to their customers.
• Amway must terminate IBOs who fake sales or teach others to do so.
• An independent outside auditor regularly audits Amway’s sales records.
• IBOs must be trained on the rules before they may recruit.
• Approved providers, including WWG and LTD, may not charge new IBOs for training or services during their first year.

The order sets the timing. The core rules (Sections I.A, I.B, I.D and I.E) take effect nine months after entry and stay in force for ten years. Section I.D also gives current and former IBOs the right to return unopened, or currently marketable, unsold products bought from Amway in the previous 12 months for a full refund; that product-return right is separate from the FTC’s redress fund. Falling short of 70 percent is not all-or-nothing: under the Appendix A formula, an IBO whose customer sales are 35 percent of monthly product volume is credited with 50 percent of the Business Volume (35% ÷ 70%). Uplines get no Business Volume credit for a new recruit’s unsold purchases during the recruit’s first six full months. All participants must complete Amway’s training within six months of entry, and new ones within three months of enrolling. For ten years, the companies may not collect payments of any kind from participants in their first twelve months, except for purchases of Amway products that the order permits.

The complaint explains what these rules are aimed at. The agencies allege that Amway, WWG and LTD told IBOs they were likely to earn more than $40,000 a year. According to the complaint, the median IBO’s total bonuses in 2023 were $139 before expenses, and fewer than 1,600 of more than 241,000 IBOs received $40,000 or more that year. Washington’s release adds a pricing example from the complaint: until recently, Amway sold a case of 24 bottles of water for $52.