CRI Genetics Lawsuit: Settlement Terms, Refunds, and New Complaints

The CRI Genetics lawsuit was filed on November 17, 2023, when the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General jointly accused the Santa Monica DNA testing company of using fake review websites, fabricated customer endorsements, unsupported accuracy claims, and deceptive checkout tactics to sell its ancestry test kits. CRI Genetics settled the case the same day, agreeing to pay $700,000 in civil penalties to California and accepting a permanent court order that bars the practices going forward.¹

What CRI Genetics Was Accused Of

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as Case No. 2:23-cv-9824, described what the agencies called a “myriad of misrepresentations.”² The alleged conduct fell into a few distinct buckets.

Accuracy And Technology Claims

CRI advertised its ancestry reports as “extraordinarily accurate,” at times touting a 99.9% accuracy rate and at other times “over 90% accuracy.” The company also told consumers its reports could show exactly where their ancestors came from and exactly when they arrived, going back 50 or more generations. According to the complaint, those claims had no factual basis. DNA tests cannot precisely pinpoint when ancestors lived in specific places, and CRI did not have access to competitors’ proprietary data that would be needed to back up superiority claims.³

CRI also promoted a “patented DNA analysis algorithm” and featured a well-known genetic scientist in its ads. Regulators said the algorithm was not actually patented.³

Fake Review Sites And Fabricated Endorsements

The agencies alleged that CRI ran two websites disguised as independent review platforms. Geneticsdigest.com operated from 2017 to at least February 2021, presenting itself as an unbiased source staffed by scientists and researchers, and ranked CRI Genetics as its “top choice” with a 4.9 out of 5 rating, ahead of AncestryDNA and 23andMe. Buyerranking.com ran from at least 2018 to around April 2021 using the same approach, giving CRI a 4.7 out of 5 and placing it above competitors. Neither site disclosed its connection to CRI for most of its existence.³

The complaint also said CRI posted fabricated customer testimonials on its website and Facebook page using stock photos of people who had never used the product. In 2020, the company produced a video ad featuring a paid actor playing a character named “Wayne,” identified as Native American, who claimed CRI testing had shown he possessed the “oldest DNA found in America.” Wayne was fictional, the script was loosely based on a real customer who never endorsed the company or participated in the video, and nothing in the ad disclosed that it was paid advertising.³

Dark Patterns At Checkout

Regulators said CRI used “dark patterns” to trick shoppers into paying for products they didn’t want. After a customer entered payment information, the company immediately processed the charge but then routed the buyer through as many as five additional pop-up pages offering “special rewards” and add-on products. The pages were designed to look like required steps before a final order confirmation, leaving consumers with the impression that they hadn’t been charged yet. When customers spotted the unwanted charges, the refund process was allegedly slow and confusing.¹

The complaint also accused CRI of manufacturing scarcity, telling shoppers its kits were “out of stock,” “backordered,” or “not always available” to pressure them into quick purchases.³

What The Settlement Requires

CRI Genetics resolved the case through a stipulated order filed the same day as the complaint. The company neither admitted nor denied the allegations, except for facts establishing the court’s jurisdiction.⁴

The financial piece is a $700,000 civil penalty payable to California in four annual installments of $175,000, with the first due within 30 days. CEO Oleh “Alex” Mulyar is jointly and severally liable for the full amount, and the penalty is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.⁵

The order permanently bars CRI Genetics from:

Making unsubstantiated claims about the accuracy, detail, geographic precision, or scientific validity of its DNA testing products.
Posting fake reviews or endorsements. CRI must disclose any financial or material connection with endorsers or influencers.
Using deceptive billing practices, including misrepresenting when an order is finalized, when charges occur, or whether a buyer can modify an order before being billed. CRI must clearly disclose total costs and let shoppers confirm, edit, or delete items before payment is processed.
Sharing genetic data without consent. The company must obtain separate, affirmative consent before using or sharing consumers’ DNA information, and it must delete genetic and personal data for consumers who previously received refunds and requested deletion.

The order also requires CRI to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act, the Genetic Information Privacy Act, the Unfair Competition Law, the False Advertising Law, and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act. Mulyar and the company face five years of compliance reporting, recordkeeping obligations, and ongoing monitoring by both agencies, which reserved the right to take depositions and even pose as consumers to check compliance.⁵

Do Customers Get Money Back?

No. The settlement did not create a consumer restitution fund. The $700,000 is a civil penalty paid to the State of California, and neither agency’s announcement indicates that individual customers received direct refunds or monetary compensation through the case.¹ Customers who feel they were misled generally have to pursue refunds directly with the company or through their payment provider.

How CRI Genetics Described The Outcome

In a blog post published the day the settlement was announced, CEO Alex Mulyar framed the result favorably, writing that the FTC “concluded NOT to allege that CRI Genetics has ever failed to safeguard customers’ DNA data or provided inaccurate information in ancestry reports.” He also said the company never gave the FTC access to its full customer database or any confidential DNA information.⁶

Those statements are narrower than they sound. The complaint did allege that the company’s accuracy claims were false and unsubstantiated, even though it did not accuse CRI of returning wrong ancestry information to any specific named customer.

Complaints Filed Since The Settlement

Better Business Bureau filings suggest that some of the practices at issue in the lawsuit have continued in altered forms. Customers in late 2025 and early 2026 reported paying for a DNA test only to find key parts of the report locked behind an additional paywall requiring purchases of “credits” or a VIP subscription, a cost structure they said was not disclosed before the initial purchase.⁷

Other complaints describe being denied access to raw DNA data files despite marketing language suggesting full ownership of results. When customers invoked the Genetic Information Privacy Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act, CRI reportedly refused, calling it a security measure to prevent “data mining.”⁷ Several users have also described ancestry results that were inconsistent, sharply different from results at other testing companies, or that shifted significantly over time, changes the company attributed to a “Living Analysis” of DNA.⁸

One complaint alleged that during a customer service call, a representative altered the complainant’s ancestry results in real time to match what the customer expected, with before-and-after screenshots submitted to the BBB. That claim has not been independently verified.⁸

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FTC. FTC, California Obtain Order Against DNA Testing Firm Over Charges It Made Myriad Misrepresentations
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FTC. CRI Genetics, FTC and State of California v.
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California Attorney General. FTC v. CRI Genetics Complaint
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California Attorney General. FTC v. CRI Genetics Proposed Stipulated Order
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FTC. CRI Genetics Stipulated Order
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CRI Genetics. CRI FTC Investigation
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BBB. CRI Genetics LLC Complaints
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BBB. CRI Genetics LLC Complaints – Page 2