F-Factor Founder Tanya Zuckerbrot Settles Six-Year Defamation Case, Gets $240,000 and Forced Apology From Instagram Critic

Tanya Zuckerbrot spent 25 years building F-Factor, a fiber-and-protein diet brand that drew celebrity clients and, by her account, was generating more than $1 million a month by 2020. Then an Instagram account run by fashion influencer Emily Gellis went after her, and the business didn't survive it.

According to court papers cited by the New York Post, Gellis posted more than 4,500 Instagram stories and posts about Zuckerbrot and F-Factor in just 75 days starting in 2020. The Post reports the total eventually topped 50,000 posts and videos. Gellis called Zuckerbrot, in the Post's account, "powder-pushing," "money-hungry," "disgusting," "gaslighting" and the operator of a "cult-like" business.

Gellis also accused Zuckerbrot of drug use, tax evasion and unspecified criminal conduct, all of which the Post reports were untrue. She told F-Factor's retail partner Bloomingdale's the company was selling "poison," and alleged its fiber powders contained dangerous arsenic levels, according to the Post.

What Started It

Gellis described herself as an "accidental activist." She said she was amplifying anonymous testimonials from followers who claimed the F-Factor diet caused gastric distress, hair loss, panic attacks, UTIs, miscarriages and other serious problems, per the Post's reporting.

Zuckerbrot, who holds a master's degree in nutrition and food studies from NYU, says her products were made in a pharmaceutical-grade facility and tested for heavy metals, microbiological safety and label accuracy, according to court papers reviewed by the Post. Zuckerbrot sued Gellis for defamation in October 2020.

The Judge's Read

In a 2022 ruling in the case, Judge Joel M. Cohen of the New York Supreme Court described Gellis's campaign as "a barrage of more than 4,500 Instagram posts over a period of only 75 days" that leveled "serious, specific accusations" against Zuckerbrot and F-Factor, "often in intensely personal and vulgar terms," according to legal commentary site sequenceinc, which reviewed the decision. That ruling let the case move forward rather than getting tossed, but it wasn't a final verdict on the merits. The case never went to trial.

The Damage

According to sequenceinc's account of the lawsuit, F-Factor's monthly revenue collapsed from roughly $1 million to under $90,000 after Gellis's campaign began. Zuckerbrot also says she lost an investment opportunity and that F-Factor shut down shortly after the posts started. She told the Post she spent more than $1 million on lawyers and that the ordeal left her suicidal. "I couldn't leave the house. I would have panic attacks in the supermarket," she said, according to the Post.

The Settlement

After nearly six years of litigation, the two sides settled. Gellis will pay Zuckerbrot $500 a month for 40 years, totaling $240,000, according to sequenceinc, which reviewed the settlement terms.

Gellis must also record a scripted video apology using language both sides agreed to. She cannot add verbal, nonverbal or digital commentary, cannot alter the script without Zuckerbrot's written consent, and must make an effort to look at the camera while reading it, per sequenceinc's description of the document. The apology must be pinned to the top of her Instagram and Facebook accounts for three and a half years, then remain visible in her feeds for another year and a half after that, five years of exposure total.

In the script, sequenceinc reports, Gellis says that instead of verifying what she encountered about F-Factor in 2020, she "amplified it," and what began as an inquiry "became a sustained and harmful campaign that was not grounded in verified" fact. Even during the litigation, sequenceinc notes, Gellis kept posting, at one point calling Zuckerbrot an "embarrassment," "scum" and a "trash bucket of society."

What's Unresolved

A settlement isn't a jury verdict. Neither source indicates Gellis was ever found liable at trial for the specific arsenic claims or the drug and tax allegations, and no criminal charges were filed against her. The scripted apology, which Gellis agreed to as part of the deal, is the clearest on-record statement conceding the campaign went beyond verified fact. Gellis's Instagram following, now at 185,000 according to the Post, will see that apology pinned to the top of her feed for the next several years, a public record of the case that outlives the diet brand it helped bring down.