White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Was an Affiliate Marketer for a Fitness MLM

Since her first appearance behind the podium this week, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia’s past has become murkier by the day. A WIRED review of deleted social media and professional networking profiles has helped clear up at least one mystery. Zacharia’s online résumé shows a gap extending from 2013 to late 2023. For part of that time, she worked as an affiliate of Beachbody, a fitness company that ran a multilevel marketing operation she describes to WIRED as “sort of a pyramid scheme.”

自本周首次在讲台后露面以来，白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚（Katie Zacharia）的过去变得愈发扑朔迷离。WIRED 对已删除的社交媒体和职业社交资料进行的审查，至少澄清了一个谜团。扎卡里亚的在线简历显示，她从 2013 年到 2023 年底有一段职业空白期。在此期间，她曾担任健身公司 Beachbody 的附属营销人员，该公司运营着一种多层次传销模式，她向 WIRED 形容其为“某种金字塔骗局”。

Zacharia’s background prior to her emergence as a right-wing operative and pundit in recent years has been the subject of intense curiosity. Prior to joining the White House’s press team, she was a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, a communications adviser at President Donald Trump’s media company, and a commentator on Newsmax and Fox News.

在近年来作为右翼政治运作人员和评论员崭露头角之前，扎卡里亚的背景一直是人们强烈好奇的对象。在加入白宫新闻团队之前，她曾担任国土安全部发言人、唐纳德·特朗普总统媒体公司的通讯顾问，以及 Newsmax 和福克斯新闻的评论员。

Other parts of her professional background have come under scrutiny, particularly her legal work. According to her LinkedIn, Zacharia was an associate at the Zhong Lun law firm, known in China as a top-tier “red circle” firm, between 2011 and 2013. She also identifies herself on LinkedIn as having worked as general counsel for the nonprofit Fix California. Tax filings reviewed by WIRED, though, show that rather than working as general counsel for Fix California, Zacharia was in fact a fundraiser for the nonprofit.

她职业背景的其他部分也受到了审查，尤其是她的法律工作。根据她的领英（LinkedIn）资料，扎卡里亚在 2011 年至 2013 年间曾是中伦律师事务所的律师，该所在中国被称为顶尖的“红圈”律所。她还在领英上自称曾担任非营利组织 Fix California 的总法律顾问。然而，WIRED 查阅的税务文件显示，扎卡里亚并非 Fix California 的总法律顾问，实际上她是该非营利组织的筹款人。

On Tuesday, journalist Judd Legum reported that Zacharia—who, he noted, had been identified as an attorney in at least 18 appearances on Fox News—did not appear to have ever passed the bar. Since then, The Wall Street Journal has reported that she sat for the California bar exam but never passed—a finding WIRED independently confirmed. (On Wednesday, watchdog organization Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California seeking to investigate the veracity of Zacharia’s claims to be an attorney.)

周二，记者贾德·勒古姆（Judd Legum）报道称，扎卡里亚在福克斯新闻至少 18 次出镜中被标注为律师，但她似乎从未通过律师资格考试。此后，《华尔街日报》报道称，她曾参加加州律师资格考试但未通过——这一发现得到了 WIRED 的独立证实。（周三，监督组织“问责运动”向加州律师协会提交了一份投诉，要求调查扎卡里亚自称是律师的真实性。）

WIRED was able to gain some clarity about other aspects of Zacharia’s professional history using a database of material leaked online and created by the open-source intelligence firm District 4 Labs. It contains details from a since-deleted LinkedIn account belonging to Zacharia, which listed Beachbody email addresses as two of her points of contact. A representative for the company told WIRED there was no record of her having worked there. In a phone call, Zacharia confirmed to WIRED that she had never been employed by the company.

WIRED 利用开源情报公司 District 4 Labs 创建的在线泄露数据库，得以进一步了解扎卡里亚职业生涯的其他方面。该数据库包含扎卡里亚已删除的领英账户详情，其中列出了两个 Beachbody 电子邮箱作为她的联系方式。该公司的一位代表告诉 WIRED，没有记录显示她曾在那里工作。在一次电话中，扎卡里亚向 WIRED 证实，她从未受雇于该公司。

Zacharia says she was, rather, an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, following her 2013 return from China. She recalls being brought in by a friend and promoting its Shakeology product, which is promoted as a “superfood nutrition shake.” She stopped using and promoting the product, she says, because of its vitamin A content, which she didn’t feel was good for her while pregnant.

扎卡里亚表示，她在 2013 年从中国回国后，实际上是 Beachbody 的附属营销人员。她回忆说，是一位朋友带她入行的，她当时推广的是 Shakeology 产品，该产品被宣传为“超级食物营养奶昔”。她说，她停止使用和推广该产品是因为其中的维生素 A 含量，她认为这对自己怀孕期间不利。

Beachbody, now known as BODi, confirmed in a statement that Zacharia was among its 300,000 “independent Team Beachbody distributors” in 2013. A spokesperson added that they believed it would be “misrepresentation” to conflate Zacharia’s time at Beachbody with “BODi’s current business and operations.”

现更名为 BODi 的 Beachbody 在一份声明中证实，扎卡里亚是 2013 年其 30 万名“独立 Beachbody 团队分销商”之一。一位发言人补充说，他们认为将扎卡里亚在 Beachbody 的经历与“BODi 目前的业务和运营”混为一谈是“歪曲事实”。

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a company that relied on a multilevel marketing scheme for decades, the company has run into a number of legal issues over the years. It’s been accused of falsely advertising a revolutionary anti-aging treatment (the suit was voluntarily dismissed) and making false or misleading income promises to contractors. It got into a copyright battle with a company called Orderlegalsteroids.com, accusing it of stealing an image of Israeli bodybuilder Sagi Kalev from promotional materials for its “BODY BEAST” Program. (Beachbody won a default judgment.)

对于一家几十年来依赖多层次传销模式的公司来说，多年来陷入一系列法律纠纷或许并不令人意外。该公司曾被指控虚假宣传一种革命性的抗衰老疗法（该诉讼已被自愿撤销），并向承包商做出虚假或误导性的收入承诺。它还曾与一家名为 Orderlegalsteroids.com 的公司陷入版权纠纷，指控其从“BODY BEAST”项目的宣传材料中窃取了以色列健美运动员萨吉·卡列夫（Sagi Kalev）的形象。（Beachbody 赢得了缺席判决。）

In 2017, Beachbody, without admitting any wrongdoing, settled a $3.6 million consumer protection lawsuit with the city attorney in Santa Monica, California. Prosecutors alleged that Beachbody made health-related claims about its products, including Shakeology, that were “false, misleading, and not backed by scientific evidence.” They also claimed in filings that Beachbody had been automatically charging customers credit cards for renewals of their products without their consent. As part of its settlement, Beachbody was ordered to pay $1 million to nonprofits that promote health and nutrition.

2017 年，Beachbody 在不承认任何不当行为的情况下，与加州圣莫尼卡市检察官就一起 360 万美元的消费者保护诉讼达成和解。检察官指控 Beachbody 对其产品（包括 Shakeology）做出的健康相关声明是“虚假、误导性且缺乏科学证据支持的”。他们在文件中还声称，Beachbody 在未经客户同意的情况下，自动扣除客户信用卡费用以续订产品。作为和解协议的一部分，Beachbody 被责令向促进健康和营养的非营利组织支付 100 万美元。

And in 2023, Beachbody was hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of scamming its coaches. The lead plaintiff was a schoolteacher who alleged she joined Beachbody with the hope of making a supplementary income but ended up paying $20,000 in personal funds to cover expenses related to her coaching role—all while making about $50 per month for about 50 hours of work. The following year, the company dropped its multilevel marketing program in favor of a “single-level affiliate” one. In 2025, it reached a settlement in the class action suit that resulted in the dismissal of all claims, and the lawsuit was later formally dismissed.

2023 年，Beachbody 遭遇集体诉讼，被指控欺骗其教练。首席原告是一名学校教师，她声称自己加入 Beachbody 是希望获得额外收入，结果却自掏腰包 2 万美元来支付与教练角色相关的费用，而每月工作约 50 小时仅能赚取约 50 美元。次年，该公司放弃了多层次传销计划，转而采用“单层附属”模式。2025 年，该公司就集体诉讼达成和解，导致所有索赔被驳回，该诉讼随后被正式撤销。

In a statement to WIRED, BODi says, “Team Beachbody was a peer-to-peer sales and support network” and that the company “helped tens of millions of people pursue their health goals through in-home fitness programs like P90X, Insanity, and 21 Day Fix, and nutrition products such as Shakeology.”

BODi 在给 WIRED 的声明中表示：“Team Beachbody 是一个点对点的销售和支持网络”，该公司“通过 P90X、Insanity 和 21 Day Fix 等家庭健身项目以及 Shakeology 等营养产品，帮助数千万人实现了他们的健康目标。”

This particular notch on Zacharia’s résumé puts her in good company with other high-profile Trumpworld personnel, a cadre of professionals who have a great fondness for supplement-related business opportunities. FBI chief Kash Patel previously promoted supplements that promised to help people “detox” from the Covid-19 vaccine. Nicole Saphier, Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, reported receiving nearly $300,000 in business income from her own company that owns a supplement line. And President Trump himself once oversaw a multilevel marketing company, The Trump Network, which sold an array of vitamins, home urine tests claiming to test for vitamin deficiency, and children’s snacks.

扎卡里亚简历上的这一经历，使她与特朗普阵营的其他高调人物“志同道合”，这些专业人士非常热衷于与补品相关的商业机会。联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔（Kash Patel）此前曾推广过承诺帮助人们从新冠疫苗中“排毒”的补品。特朗普提名的卫生局局长妮可·萨菲尔（Nicole Saphier）报告称，她从自己拥有一条补品生产线的公司获得了近 30 万美元的商业收入。特朗普总统本人也曾监管过一家多层次传销公司——特朗普网络（The Trump Network），该公司销售各种维生素、声称能检测维生素缺乏症的家庭尿检试剂以及儿童零食。