cozietoesie 'MLM' cultic racketeering first entered the UK in 1973 right under the noses of naive regulators who hadn't the beginnings of a clue what it was, only now is it really getting out of control. From my own discussions with certain (honest) legally-qualified UK trade regulators, it seems that successive British governments have been fearful of taking any measures independent of their US counterparts. Unfortunately, the British govenrment hasn't discovered, let alone understood, that 'MLM' racketeers have steadily corrupted the US regulatory system, and legislative process, to a degree which makes the Mafia look like a troop of cub scouts.
Remember, during the Reagan years a lot of regulation was dismantled in the USA, slavishly-following the species theory that free-market economies will ultimately always regulate themselves. Exactly the same species theory has been influencing British government policy, since the Thatcher years.
Unfortunately, if you take this dangerous Utopian belief to its logical conclusion, you discover that when you remove common-sense independent checks and balances in any economic system, ultimately, racketeering becomes the norm. Today, there is a whole class comprising wealthy sociopathic racketeers (and banksters) who have succeeded in placing themselves above the law
Just look at the 'liar loans' scandal.
'MLM' income opportunity racketeering is perhaps the most dangerous, and pernicious, result of this catastrophic regulatory failure.