The $17 Million Reckoning
The FTC just confirmed what every member of this coalition already knew. Xponential Fitness lied — to regulators, to franchisees, and to the public. Now it's going to cost them.
On March 18, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had secured a settlement with Xponential Fitness, Inc. — the NYSE-traded company (ticker: XPOF) that operates Club Pilates, Pure Barre, YogaSix, StretchLab, and BFT — for violations of the federal Franchise Rule and related deceptive practices. The settlement includes a $17 million monetary judgment, which the FTC called the largest consumer redress in the agency's history for an alleged Franchise Rule violation.
The commission vote was 2-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The case was investigated and prosecuted by FTC attorneys Anne LeJeune, Tammy Chung, and Jason Moon out of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
For the members of this coalition, the FTC complaint is not news. It is confirmation. The violations described — concealed timelines, hidden litigation, falsified disclosure lists — are exactly what franchisees across Xponential's brand network have been reporting for years. The difference is that a federal agency with subpoena power now agrees.
Violation One: They Lied About How Long It Takes to Open
The FTC alleges that Xponential told prospective franchisees their studios would typically be up and running within six months of signing a franchise agreement. In reality, franchisees have typically taken more than a year — and in many cases, studios never opened at all.
Xponential knew this. The complaint makes clear the company was aware of the actual opening timelines and chose to continue representing the six-month figure anyway. The consequence for franchisees: they paid substantial franchise license fees and incurred unexpected costs — carrying expenses on buildouts, leases, and equipment for a business that wasn't generating revenue.
Our coalition members have described this pattern in detail. You signed. You paid $45,000 or more in initial fees plus rent, construction overruns, and equipment deposits. You waited. Months passed. You asked for help. You were told it was your fault. This is the violation the FTC is now putting a dollar figure on.
Violation Two: They Hid Who Anthony Geisler Really Was
The Franchise Rule requires franchisors to disclose material litigation involving key executives. Xponential did not. Specifically, the FTC alleges the company failed to disclose that its former CEO, Anthony Geisler, was involved in the sale or operation of franchises in a capacity that triggered mandatory disclosure — and that he had been repeatedly sued for fraud.
Fraud. Not a contract dispute. Not a civil disagreement. Fraud — and franchisees were never told.
The company also failed to disclose that its former President of Franchise Development had filed for bankruptcy, which is also required under the Franchise Rule. Prospective franchisees signing 10-year agreements and paying $45,000 upfront had no way to evaluate who they were really going into business with.
Violation Three: They Erased the Paper Trail of Failed Studios
The Franchise Rule requires franchisors to provide prospective buyers with the names and contact information of franchisees whose studios closed, were terminated, cancelled, or not renewed during the previous year. This list is how buyers discover the real failure rate. Xponential omitted names from this list, and where they did provide contact information, it was outdated — making it impossible to actually reach the people who had already lost their investment.
This is not an administrative error. Providing prospective franchisees with a list of dead ends instead of real contacts is a deliberate suppression of the failure signal.
Violation Four: Disclosure Documents Were Late — or Wrong
Federal law requires that franchisors give prospective franchisees their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) at least 14 days before any agreement is signed. The FDD is the document that is supposed to contain everything — costs, risks, litigation history, executive backgrounds, failure rates. Xponential failed to provide timely FDDs, which the FTC says left franchisees without a meaningful opportunity to review the risks before signing and paying.
Initial franchise fees averaged $45,000 per studio. The standard agreement is 10 years. Many franchisees signed without ever receiving a complete, accurate, or on-time disclosure document.
The Settlement — and What It Doesn't Cover
The stipulated order requires Xponential to pay $17 million in consumer redress — returning money directly to franchisees. It permanently prohibits the company from making misrepresentations in the promotion or sale of any franchise. It requires ongoing compliance with the Franchise Rule.
This is meaningful. It is also not complete justice. Seventeen million dollars distributed across hundreds of affected franchisees does not cover the aggregate losses our coalition has documented. It does not compensate franchisees for years of lost income, for personal guarantees called in, for business closures, or for the psychological and financial damage of operating under false pretenses in a 10-year commitment.
The FTC action is a floor. Our work is to document everything that sits above it.
What This Means for the Coalition
The FTC complaint is now part of the public record. It is a federal corroboration of the pattern this coalition has been documenting. Every account submitted to this platform, every piece of evidence in the archive, every franchisee testimony — they are now substantiated by the findings of the agency responsible for enforcing federal franchise law.
If you are a current or former Xponential franchisee — Club Pilates, Pure Barre, YogaSix, StretchLab, BFT, or any other brand — and you have not yet submitted your account, now is the time. The public record is open. The precedent has been set. We are building the comprehensive record of individual harm that the FTC settlement alone cannot capture.