Olive Tree People Lawsuit: FTC Referral, PAGA, and Wrongful Termination

The Olive Tree People lawsuit picture has two parts: a December 2024 referral to the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General over misleading income claims made by the company’s sales consultants, and a string of employment lawsuits filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, several of which name founder Thomas Lommel personally. The regulatory referral was later closed after the company cooperated. The employment cases remain active or have settled individually.

The FTC Referral Over Income Claims

In September 2024, the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council, a division of BBB National Programs, opened an inquiry into what Olive Tree People’s sales force was posting on Facebook and Instagram.¹ The posts promised “financial freedom,” “full-time income,” and commissions of 25 to 35 percent “plus bonuses,” alongside testimonials about earning paid trips to Austin and Spain shortly after joining. One consultant wrote that she had “easily earned over 3X the amount I ever earned in all my combined years at my last company.”²

The DSSRC found that the posts “expressly and inaccurately claim that Olive Tree salesforce members can earn significant income, replace previously earned income, achieve financial freedom, and earn free trips.”³ Under 2024 FTC guidance, testimonials about large earnings are considered deceptive when they suggest the experience is typical, because most participants in multi-level marketing programs do not achieve comparable results. Phrases such as “financial freedom,” “replacement income,” and “career-level income” carry what the council called a “particularly high risk of being misleading” when aimed at a general audience.¹

Olive Tree People did not respond to the DSSRC’s initial notice on September 13, 2024, or to a follow-up notice on November 13. Because the company refused to participate, the council referred the matter to the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General’s Office on December 13, 2024, for possible enforcement action.²

How the Referral Was Resolved

After the referral was announced publicly on December 20, 2024, Olive Tree People contacted the DSSRC and asked to participate. The company attributed its earlier silence to “internal restructuring” and “technical challenges” with its email system.⁴ The council reopened the file as Case #219-2025.

During the reopened review, the company removed or revised eight of the nine challenged posts. The ninth had been made by a former consultant no longer affiliated with the company. Olive Tree People sent her multiple takedown requests between September 2024 and February 2025, reported the post to Meta, suspended her consultant status, placed her commissions on hold, and added a public comment on the post stating that the income claims were unauthorized.⁴

The DSSRC accepted these steps as a “genuine, good faith effort” and administratively closed the case on June 17, 2025. As of mid-2026, there is no public indication that the FTC or the California Attorney General has opened a separate enforcement action against the company.⁴

Wrongful Termination and PAGA Lawsuits

Olive Tree People and its related entities have been named in several employment lawsuits filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Founder Thomas Lommel is named personally in at least two of them.

Riche v. Olive Tree People Inc. Filed December 16, 2024. Clare’mella “Clare” Riche brought a class action and representative complaint under California’s Private Attorney General Act against Olive Tree People and Thomas Lommel. The case was assigned to Judge Lawrence P. Riff at the Spring Street Courthouse and was listed as open at the time of the most recent available record.⁵
Tarula et al. v. Oliveda International Inc. Filed March 6, 2025. Jonathan Tarula and Luiz Costa sued Oliveda International, Olive Tree People, and Lommel for wrongful termination (case 25STCV06350) before Judge Virginia Keeny at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. The parties filed a notice of settlement on November 26, 2025, and the case was dismissed with prejudice on December 16, 2025.⁶
Del Rico v. Olive Tree People Inc. Filed April 25, 2025. Victoria Lorena Del Rico brought a wrongful termination claim against the company.⁵
Kowalewski v. Olive Tree People Inc. Filed February 17, 2026. Katharina Kowalewski filed a wrongful termination claim at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.⁷

The specific factual allegations in most of these cases have not been detailed in publicly available court records beyond the general classification of wrongful termination or labor code violations. The Tarula settlement terms are not public.

What Consultants Should Know About the Pay Structure

The DSSRC inquiry turned on how Olive Tree People’s sales force describes earnings, so the compensation structure is worth understanding before signing up. Consultants pay $50 to enroll and can earn a base retail commission of 25 percent on customer purchases, with bonuses pushing that figure to 35 percent at higher personal sales volumes.⁸ The plan adds a Fast Start Bonus on new recruits’ first 60 days of sales, a Team Growth Bonus tied to building groups of three, a monthly Unilevel Organization Bonus based on rank, and leadership bonuses including a 1 percent share of company revenue for its highest-ranking consultants.⁹

The company does not appear to publish a formal income disclosure statement showing what percentage of consultants earn at each level. Its compensation plan brochure includes only a general disclaimer that “OLIVE TREE PEOPLE makes no guarantees on income” and that success “depends on your effort, commitment, skill and leadership activities.”⁹ The absence of that disclosure was part of the backdrop to the DSSRC referral. On its website, the company denies operating as a pyramid scheme, stating that it pays commissions “only when products are sold” rather than for recruiting other consultants.⁸

Consumer Complaints and BBB Rating

Olive Tree People holds a C- rating from the Better Business Bureau and is not BBB-accredited. The BBB profile lists six complaints against the company, with one that went unanswered.¹⁰ Customer reviews on the BBB page describe poor customer service, a difficult return policy, and packaging that cracked and leaked upon arrival. The DSSRC noted separately that the company does not list a telephone number on its website, which complicated the council’s initial attempts to make contact.¹

Where Things Stand

The self-regulatory case is closed. The FTC and California Attorney General referrals remain on the record, but no public enforcement action has followed as of mid-2026. Employment litigation in Los Angeles continues: one wrongful termination case has settled and been dismissed, a PAGA class action is pending, and additional individual claims have been filed as recently as February 2026. Anyone weighing a consumer complaint, a job dispute, or a decision about becoming a consultant should check the current docket for the specific case that matters to them, because the picture is still moving.

1
BBB National Programs. DSSRC Case 187-2024 Olive Tree Referral
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Yahoo Finance. Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council Refers Olive Tree People
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BBB National Programs. DSSRC Decisions – Olive Tree
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BBB National Programs. DSSRC Closure – Olive Tree People
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UniCourt. Clare’mella “Clare” Riche vs. Olive Tree People Inc.
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UniCourt. Jonathan Tarula, et al. vs. Oliveda International, Inc., et al.
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UniCourt. Los Angeles County Superior Courts Labor Cases
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Olive Tree People. Join Us
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DirectScale. OTP Compensation Plan Brochure
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BBB. BBB Profile – Olive Tree People Inc.