Herbalife $15 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit

A Los Angeles federal judge signed off on a $15 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by a former Herbalife Ltd. salesman who alleged the Los Angeles-based nutrition company was operating a pyramid scheme that victimized hundreds of thousands of people a year.

In a 60-page written opinion issued late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell called the settlement “fair, adequate and reasonable.”

The lawsuit, filed two years ago, alleged that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme in which the company’s independent distributors earn more money recruiting new sales people than they do selling its products, an allegation Herbalife has repeatedly and vigorously denied.