Katie Zakharia, the White House spokesperson, was an affiliate marketer for a fitness MLM.

Trump's newly appointed press secretary tells WIRED that in the early 2010s, the press secretary promoted a product for a company called Beachbody, which was described as 'a kind of pyramid scheme.'

Since her first appearance at the podium this week, the past of White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharias has become darker by the day.

A wiretapping of deleted social media and professional networking profiles has helped clear up at least one mystery. Zacharias' online resume shows a gap from 2013 to late 2023. For part of that time, he worked as an affiliate of Beachbody, a fitness company that ran a multi-level marketing operation.

Other parts of his professional record, particularly his legal work, are explored. According to his LinkedIn profile, between 2011 and 2013, Zakharia was an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm, known in China as a "Red Circle" firm. He also identifies himself on LinkedIn as the general counsel for the nonprofit Fix California. However, tax filings reviewed by WIRED show that rather than working as FixCalifornia's general counsel, Zacharias was actually a fundraiser for the nonprofit.

WIRED was able to shed some light on other aspects of Zacharia's professional history using a database of material created online by the open source information company District 4 Labs. It included details of a since-deleted LinkedIn account belonging to Zakaria that listed Beachbody email addresses as his two points of contact. A company representative told WIRED there is no record of him working there. In a phone call, Zakariabeh confirmed to WIRED that he was never employed by the company.

Zakaria says he has been an affiliate marketer for Beachbody since returning from China in 2013. He recalls being brought in by a friend promoting his Shakeology product, which is advertised as a "superfood nutritional shake." She says she stopped using and promoting the product because of its vitamin A content, which she didn't feel was beneficial to her during pregnancy.

Beachbody, now known as BODi, confirmed in a statement that Zacharia was among 300,000 "Team Beachbody Independent Distributors" in 2013. A spokesperson added that they believe it would be a "misrepresentation" to conflate Zacharias' time at Beachbody with BODi's "current business and operations".

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a company that relied on a multi-level marketing plan for decades, the company has run into a number of legal issues over the years. Accused of falsely advertising a revolutionary anti-aging treatment (this complaint was voluntarily dismissed), and making false or misleading revenue promises to contractors. The company got into a copyright battle with a company called, accusing it of stealing Israeli bodybuilder Sagi Calf's image from promotional materials for their "BODY BEAST" program. (Beachbody won a default judgment.)

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 claims about its products, including Shakeology, that were "false, misleading, and not supported by scientific evidence." They also alleged in their filings that Beachbody automatically charged customers' credit cards to renew their products without their consent. As part of its settlement, Beachbody was ordered to pay $1 million to nonprofit organizations that promote health and nutrition.

And in 2023, Beachbody was hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of defrauding its trainers. The lead plaintiff was a school teacher who claimed she joined Beachbody in hopes of earning extra money, but ended up paying $20,000 in personal equity to cover expenses related to her coaching role — all while earning about $50 a month for about 50 hours of work. The following year, the company abandoned its multi-level marketing program in favor of a "single-level education." In 2025, it reached a settlement in a class action that dismissed all claims, and the suit was later formally dismissed.

"Team Beachbody was a peer-to-peer sales and support network," BODi told WIRED in a statement, and the company "has helped tens of millions of people pursue their health goals through at-home fitness programs like P90X, Insanity, and 21 Day Fix, and nutrition products like Shakeology."

This particular spot on Zakaria's resume puts him in good company with other prominent personnel in Trump's world, a cadre of professionals who are very interested in business opportunities related to supplements. FBI Director Kesh Patel previously promoted supplements that promised to help people detox from the Covid-19 vaccine. Nicole Safire, Trump's nominee for surgeon general, reported receiving nearly $300,000 in business income from her company, which has a supplement line. And Donald Trump himself once headed a multi-level marketing company called The Trump Network, which sold a line of vitamins, home urine tests that test for vitamin deficiencies, and children's snacks.