Illinois

Illinois consumer protection law defines a "pyramid sales scheme" as: "any plan or operation whereby a person, in exchange for money or other thing of value, acquires the opportunity to receive a benefit or thing of value, which is primarily based upon the inducement of additional persons, by himself or others, regardless of number, to participate in the same plan or operation and is not primarily contingent on the volume or quantity of goods, services, or other property sold or distributed or to be sold or distributed to persons for purposes of resale to consumers." Illinois Compiled Statutes Ch. 121 B=, Par. 262A. Pyramid schemes also violate the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act which is enforced by the Consumer Fraud Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. The law allows the Attorney General to ask the court to impose a civil penalty in the amount of $50,000 per violation.

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