Herbalife Wins Dismissal of Shareholder Lawsuit

Herbalife Ltd has won the dismissal of a lawsuit that claims shareholders lost money because the maker of weight-loss and nutritional products portrayed itself as a legitimate company when it was actually an illegal pyramid scheme.

In a decision dated March 16, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles said shareholders did not show that Herbalife inflated its stock price by misrepresenting itself as a legitimate multi-level marketing company.

Hedge fund manager William Ackman and his Pershing Square Capital Management LP have, in a campaign stretching more than two years, accused Herbalife of being a pyramid scheme. Herbalife has denied the allegations. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum)