Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City Council of Baltimore Take Action to Halt Alleged Abuse by Agora Companies, Baltimore-Based, Billion-Dollar Business

BALTIMORE, MD (Tuesday, June 9, 2026) - Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City Council of Baltimore filed a lawsuit today alleging that the Baltimore-based Agora Companies, LLC committed numerous violations of the City's Consumer Protection Ordinance through its sprawling online marketing schemes that bilked customers, particularly seniors, out of their hard-earned savings.

"The City of Baltimore is taking a stand today, making it clear that we will enforce the rule of law to safeguard our residents from the alleged harms deployed by Agora," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "It is my hope that these protections will prevent further harm in communities across the nation. This predatory cycle of exploitation ends here."

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 lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City by the Baltimore City Law Department and outside counsel Farra & Wang PLLC and Relman Colfax PLLC, seeks civil penalties, injunctive relief to halt the unlawful conduct, restitution for affected consumers, and disgorgement of ill-gotten profits.

"The people of Baltimore deserve to be free from schemes that misinform, entrap, and harm our communities and constituents," said City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson. "No business, no matter its size, is above the law."

By and through its network of affiliates, Agora produces and markets more than 300 publications per year. 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;" that a "Nobel Prize-winning discovery has led to a [cancer] treatment with zero side effects, NO CHEMO needed, and success stories with complete reversals;" and that 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 guaranteed refunds if they are not satisfied, then upsells them on subscriptions to more products and more expensive products that are difficult to cancel. The family of one elderly consumer reported expenditures of more than $30,000 on Agora products over the course of two years.

"It is no exaggeration to say that we have reviewed over one thousand complaints lodged by consumers against Agora and its constantly-morphing corporate entities," said Yiyang Wu, Partner at Relman Colfax. "Under the law, each false, misleading, or unsubstantiated statement in each Agora advertisement is a separate violation of Baltimore's consumer protection statute."

While attempts to halt Agora's illegal marketing practices have been made by federal, state, and international regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, state Attorneys General, and the Australian Securities & Investment Commission, Agora's predatory practices persist.

"Through this lawsuit, we hope to end Agora's unlawful advertising and marketing practices once and for all," said Adam Farra, Partner at Farra & Wang.

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.

A copy of the complaint is available online here.

The legal team in this matter is led by the Baltimore City Law Department's Ebony M. Thompson, Sara Gross, Natalie Neill, and Zachary Babo; Adam Farra and Charee Woodard of Farra & Wang; and Yiyang Wu and Ellora Israni of Relman Colfax.