Snow Teeth Whitening Lawsuit: Mayweather, Gronkowski, and FDA Claims

The Snow Teeth Whitening lawsuit was actually two related federal class actions filed in Brooklyn, and neither one produced a payout or a ruling on whether the company’s advertising was false. Both cases were dismissed on standing grounds, meaning judges never reached the underlying question of whether Snow’s LED whitening kits worked as marketed.

What Consumers Accused Snow Of

The first case, Kraus v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC et al., was filed December 14, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It sought $5 million on behalf of a proposed class and named the company, its parent Foresold LLC, founder and CEO Joshua Elizetxe, and celebrity endorsers Floyd Mayweather and Rob Gronkowski.¹

The central allegation was that Snow’s roughly $199 kit was built around an LED mouthpiece that did nothing. Independent lab testing cited in the complaint concluded the LED provided “no material added benefit” over using the whitening serum by itself, and the suit alleged comparable kits sold online for under $50.²

The complaint listed a stack of other alleged misrepresentations:

Displaying the FDA logo and claiming products were “FDA approved,” even though cosmetic teeth-whitening products are not subject to FDA approval.³
Marketing the blue and red LED lights as having antiviral and antiseptic properties that could protect users against COVID-19, germs, and bacteria.¹
Claiming Allure’s 2019 “Best of Beauty Award” and features as a “Favorite Product” in Marie Claire, People, Elle, and Good Housekeeping.³
Selling the serum as “proprietary” when it was allegedly a standard hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide mix, and claiming during a November 2019 Home Shopping Network appearance that it contained a “photo-catalyst” ingredient the complaint says was not there.²
Advertising customers in over 200 countries, 500,000 happy customers, and 16,000 five-star reviews, while its actual Home Shopping Network rating was 2.7 out of 5.⁴

The complaint also went after Elizetxe personally, alleging he attributed his white teeth to Snow’s products when he actually had veneers.²

Why Mayweather and Gronkowski Were Named

Mayweather was allegedly paid to lend his name and image to a product marketed as “Floyd Mayweather’s Snow Teeth Whitening At-Home System,” and he appeared in promotional material calling Snow “the best teeth whitening kit money can buy.”¹ Gronkowski was allegedly paid to promote the brand on his personal and “Gronknation” social media, including a promotional video with a parody of the song “Ice Ice Baby.”⁴

Holding a paid endorser personally liable for a company’s advertising claims is a hard case to win. As one outlet noted at the time, absent proof that an endorser knew the marketing claims were false, it would be difficult to pin individual responsibility on them.⁵ The court never had to answer that question, because the case fell apart on a different issue.

Why the Kraus Case Was Dismissed

The case unraveled in discovery. Magistrate Judge Steven L. Tiscione issued a Report and Recommendation on September 15, 2022 that was devastating to the plaintiff’s credibility. In his deposition, Burton Kraus admitted he had not seen or relied on any of the specific advertisements cited in his own complaint before buying the kit. Asked how those ads ended up in the filing, he said his attorneys had assembled the complaint, not him.⁶

The court also found what it called “strong circumstantial evidence” that the lawsuit had been drafted before Kraus even bought the product. He sent a demand letter to Snow in April 2020 but did not purchase the kit until July 2020, leading the court to conclude the purchase was made to generate the suit. Snow’s attorneys also noted Kraus was personally close friends with one of his lawyers.⁷

The magistrate judge found a “complete lack of any connection” between Kraus’s testimony and the allegations in his complaint, which was “ultimately fatal to his claim.” Without evidence the plaintiff had seen or relied on the allegedly false advertising, he could not show his financial injury was caused by the defendants, a required element of constitutional standing.⁶ District Judge Joan M. Azrack adopted the recommendation in full on September 30, 2022 and dismissed the case. No appeal was reported.⁸

The Second Lawsuit and Its Quiet Ending

A second class action, Poyer v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC, was filed March 18, 2022 in the same court by four plaintiffs: Melissa Poyer, Kimberly Marino, Nicole Petker, and Joanne Moynihan. It named Snow Teeth Whitening LLC, Snow Cosmetics LLC, Foresold LLC, and Elizetxe. The celebrity endorsers were not defendants in this one.⁹

On September 14, 2023, Judge Azrack again adopted a recommendation from Magistrate Judge Tiscione and dismissed most of the case. The claims of Poyer, Moynihan, and Marino were dismissed with prejudice for lack of Article III standing. One claim survived: an “LED light enhancement claim” brought by Nicole Petker, individually and on behalf of a proposed class, alleging the LED did not actually enhance the whitening process as marketed.⁹

The case was terminated on August 21, 2024. The docket does not reveal the basis for termination, so it is not publicly clear whether the surviving LED claim was settled, voluntarily dismissed, or resolved some other way.⁹

What This Means If You Bought a Snow Kit

There is no class settlement, no consumer refund program, and no judicial finding that Snow’s advertising was false. Both federal lawsuits ended without a ruling on the merits of the fraud allegations, and no government enforcement action by the FTC or any state attorney general against Snow Teeth Whitening has been publicly reported.¹⁰ The effectiveness of the LED whitening technology and the truth of the marketing claims remain unadjudicated. Buyers who feel misled have no class-action recovery to join at this time.

1
Yahoo Sports. Rob Gronkowski, Floyd Mayweather Sued for Endorsing Fraudulent Teeth-Whitening Lights
2
ClassAction.org. Rob Gronkowski, Floyd Mayweather Named in Lawsuit Claiming Snow Teeth Whitening Products Don’t Work
3
ClassAction.org. Kraus v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC et al., Complaint
4
New York Post. Mayweather, Gronkowski Endorsed Bogus Teeth-Whitening Lights
5
NBC Sports. Rob Gronkowski Sued Over Teeth Whitening Product
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ClassAction.org. Kraus v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC et al., Magistrate Report and Recommendation
7
Top Class Actions. Snow Teeth Wants to Brush Off False COVID Protection Claims Class Action
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ClassAction.org. Kraus v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC et al., Dismissal Order
9
Court Listener. Poyer v. Snow Teeth Whitening LLC, Docket
10
Truth in Advertising. Snow Teeth Whitening Brand Page