"Lyoness: Hands off". In the article, Sara Stalder of the Swiss Consumer Union and Manuel Richard of the Swiss Gambling Commission warn consumers not to do business with Lyoness. In early 2012, Kleine Zeitung published an article suggesting that Lyoness deceived the masses by operating an irrelevant shopping community. L'Hebdo, a Swiss magazine, reproduced a story about how Lyoness members are told that an investment of 3,000 CHF will eventually lead to 25,000 CHF in return, if enough new, down-paying members are recruited. In February 2012, the Beobachter published an article stating that, based on review of internal Lyoness communication, members are offered ‘bounties’ up to 45,000 CHF to provide ‘relevant information’ on Lyoness’ critics. A critic from Zurich was reported to have been sued for over 1 million CHF for ‘defamation’ after he contacted Lyoness’ partner companies in Switzerland in an attempt to explain the business model of Lyoness to them. The article also reported that the Lyoness business model seems to revolve around recruiting activities instead of discounts and that Lyoness is internationally charged with forgery, fraud and hosting a pyramid scheme. Der Standard reported in July 2012 that the Austrian Economic and Corruption Prosecutor (‘WKStA’) has been granted jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute Lyoness in Austria. The Swiss Handelszeitung mentioned a court case Lyoness lost, which revolved around the question as to whether the company should have issued a financial prospectus before asking investors to finance their advertising campaigns in foreign markets. In September 2012, the same newspaper reported that major, alleged Lyoness partners in Switzerland (Microsoft and Kuoni Travel) were deciding not to continue the partnerships, if there were any to begin with. The Wiener Zeitung reported about a pending lawsuit initiated by the Austrian Consumer Organisation ‘VKI’ in March 2013. The VKI contested 61 clauses of Lyoness’ ‘General Terms and Conditions’, which it called opaque, uncertain, and/or meaningless. Eric Breiteneder, hired as a legal representative by the organisation, also referred to the concepts used to distinguish various parts of – and benefits within the Lyoness business model as vague and/or undefined elsewhere. The Handelszeitung reported about suspicions that high-level Lyoness members were earlier involved in (other) pyramid schemes, like the ‘Spirit of Independence’. It also mentioned a system called ‘GTS’ (Global Trade System), operated by Erin Trade SA, as a former organisation tied to Hubert Freidl. Like Lyoness, this company has been called a pyramid