Here’s a growing business model in the financial world: bet that a company’s stock will crash, then sic the federal government on the company.

Politically connected hedge-funder Bill Ackman has been open about this. He shorted the nutritional supplement company Herbalife in late 2012, blasting it publicly as a “pyramid scheme.” Now, after months of lobbying Congress and the executive branch, he’s succeeding in sending the Federal Trade Commission after Herbalife.

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