On June 9, 2026, Relman Colfax PLLC, on behalf of Baltimore’s Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City Council of Baltimore, filed a lawsuit alleging that the Baltimore-based The Agora Companies, LLC engages in numerous unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices that violate the City’s Consumer Protection Ordinance through its sprawling online marketing schemes that bilked customers, particularly seniors, out of their hard-earned savings.
The complaint alleges that Agora, a global internet marketing and supplements company with hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly earnings, targets older consumers with exploitative business practices.
On the outside, Baltimore-based Agora has cultivated the image of an offbeat publishing business writing about health, finance, and retirement. But the complaint alleges that Agora actually lures in its target audience with unfair and deceptive advertising about its health supplements, financial advice, and related publications, and then employs illegal tactics to entrap and retain consumers.
The complaint describes many advertisements that Agora and its affiliates used across various web platforms in recent months. These advertisements falsely promise that, among other things, “Trump is about to unlock a ‘$150 trillion endowment’ hidden in federal lands;” and Agora has a pill that “helps dissolve 76% of excess liver fat in just 16 weeks!” According to the complaint, Agora lures consumers in with lower-priced subscriptions and promises of a “100% money-back guarantee” and “risk free” trials if they are not satisfied, then upsells them on subscriptions to more products and more expensive products that are difficult to cancel. It is alleged that Agora employs tactics to deceive, trap, cheat, trick, and frustrate consumers over and over again.
The effects of this scheme are devastating. The family of one elderly consumer reported expenditures of more than $30,000 on Agora products over the course of two years.
The complaint alleges that Agora knows that its business model takes advantage of consumers, particularly older consumers, and trains its employees to use marketing techniques that will attract and exploit potential consumers. The complaint also alleges that Agora operates through a confederation of corporations, grounded in a shared understanding that their primary objective is to make profit off consumers who are not reasonably in a position to challenge detect these techniques.
While attempts to halt Agora’s illegal marketing practices have been made by federal, state, and international regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, state Attorneys General, and the Australian Securities & Investment Commission, Agora’s predatory practices persist. The complaint alleges the fines and settlements that underfunded government enforcers have been able to extract from Agora pale in comparison to Agora’s revenue and do not discourage Agora from breaking the law.
All of Agora’s unfair, deceptive, and abusive content and practices are authored, approved, and disseminated from Baltimore, and Baltimore consumers have repeatedly been harmed as a result, the complaint claims. The City of Baltimore is taking a stand to put an end to this cycle of predatory abuse. It is the hope of Relman Colfax that not only does this lawsuit protect the people of Baltimore, but it will prevent further harms for communities across the nation.
In addition to the The Agora Companies, LLC, named Defendants also include: 14 W Administrative Services, LLC; Monument & Cathedral Holdings, LLC; NewMarket Health Publishing, LLC; NewMarket Health Products, LLC; MarketWise, Inc.; Paradigm Press, LLC; Oxford Financial Publishing, LLC; 546869 Holdings, LLC, doing business as Angel Publishing, LLC; Jules Bonner, President and Chairman of the Board of The Agora Companies; Erika Nolan, Chief Executive Officer of The Agora Companies; Allan Spreen, Chief Medical Advisor for Health Sciences Institute, a publication of NewMarket Health Publishing; Fred Pescatore, Editor of Logical Health Alternatives, a publication of NewMarket Health Publishing; Alan Ingis, Editor of Nutrition & Healing and Health e-Tips, publications of NewMarket Health Publishing; Richard Gerhauser, Editor of Natural Health Response, a publication of NewMarket Health Publishing; Scott Olson, Editor of Living Well Daily, a publication of NewMarket Health Publishing; Alexander Green, Chief Investment Strategist at The Oxford Club and Editor of The Oxford Communiqué, a publication of Oxford Financial Publishing; Jim Rickards, Editor of Strategic Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence Pro, Insider Intel, Crisis Trader, and The Situation Report, all publications of Paradigm Press; and James Altucher, Editor of Altucher’s Investment Network, Altucher’s Investment Network Pro, Early Stage Crypto Investor, and Altucher’s True Alpha, all publications of Paradigm Press.
The Firm is co-counseling this matter with the Baltimore City Law Department and Farra & Wang PLLC.