HGTV's Christina Hall & Tarek El Moussa Were Once Involved With A Shady Company

The drama surrounding HGTV's Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall extends beyond their highly publicized divorce. Once, they were involved with a shady company which eventually got in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It started when Hall and El Moussa were spokespeople for seminars with the company Zurixx, LLC. 

In October 2016, ABC News ran a story about Hall (then Christina El Moussa) and El Moussa's seminars. Their program was called the "Success, Path, Education" seminar and was meant to teach people about flipping houses and making a big profit. An attendee named Doug Stephens told "Good Morning America" at the time that the famous couple weren't even at the event he went to. "You're going to get some sales pitch the entire time," he said, before explaining how he felt pressured to spend more after already shelling out around $3,000.

When asked, Zurixx claimed they didn't say the El Moussas would be at each (or any) seminar. Hall also said in her ABC News interview that they attend when the seminars were close to where they lived, but since they have children it was hard to make it to many. She defended the seminar and said they haven't received much negative feedback. She continued, "This year, we'll do over 100 houses. This is our program. We meet each and every coach, we do training with them one-on-one. Tarek does tons of training via webinar." 

HGTV distanced themselves from Zurixx's seminars and told ABC News they weren't involved. In February 2017, Tarek El Moussa shared a post on Instagram of him and Christina Hall seemingly speaking at one of Zurixx's events. However, things devolved when, in September 2019, the FTC and the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Consumer Protection sued Zurixx and its owners Cristopher Cannon, James Carlson, and Jeffrey Spangler. Zurixx used famous people who worked in house flipping — such as Hall and El Moussa — to promote their coaching on how to flip houses and earn a profit. Hilary Farr from "Love It Or List It" was another spokesperson who worked with Zurixx for "Rules of Renovation" seminars.

Allegedly, at the seminars that took place a few years prior to the lawsuit, Zurixx lied about how much people would earn flipping houses to get them to pay for the seminars and lessons. They convinced people they'd make big money fast if they paid Zurixx to learn to flip. Zurixx and celebrity spokespeople got customers to attend seminars advertised as free, which were not.

Zurixx also allegedly tried to hook people to pay more and more, sometimes convincing them to open new credit cards and saying they would earn money back to pay it off. When people wanted refunds from Zurixx, they had to sign contracts agreeing not to do things such as report them to the FTC or leave poor reviews.

In February 2022, the FTC announced that the lawsuit had been settled. Zurixx and the three defendants agreed to pay $12 million to those ripped off. At the time, Samuel Levine from the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection said, "Preying on struggling Americans with empty promises of quick riches is against the law. These defendants have been banned from the coaching business and ordered to return millions to consumers, and those who engage in similar conduct can expect similar consequences."

Consumers began receiving the refunds in July 2024. Over 25,500 customers will be getting checks from the governmental organization after previously paying for Zurixx's services and being scammed. However, Christina Hall, Tarek El Moussa, and the other celebrity spokespeople who conducted seminars through Zurixx were not part of the legal trouble and haven't made a statement about the ruling.

Although it might be the most scandalous, the Zurixx debacle is not the only scandal that happened behind the scenes of "Flip or Flop."