Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has been given the go ahead for subpoenas against the MeToo Kits company.
The company has been marketing at-home sexual assault evidence collection kits which the Attorney General called a “way to commercialize and potentially profit from sexual assault”
A spokesperson for the MeToo Kits company has previously called accusations of profiteering off sexual assault “patently false and downright shameful.”
Nessel first sent a cease and desist letter to the company in August, accusing them of engaging in unfair trade practices. In particular, the Attorney General worried the kits would not hold up in court.
After meeting with attorneys from the company, the Nessel’s office says it became clear that an agreement would not be possible.
Kelly Rossman Mckinney is with the office of the Attorney General. She says the subpoenas will seek documents and testimony from the company about how its product has been represented.
“What these investigative subpoenas will allow us to do is dig deeper into the documents that they are using to explain the representations they were making on their website,” she says.
In particular, Rossman-Mckinney says their office is interested in whether the company was asserting that the kits could be used as a replacement for official sexual assault kits, which are offered for free by the state.
“These kits are, (in) my personal opinion but one shared at the highest level in the Department of Attorney General, are misleading and have no business being sold in our state at this point,” she says.
Rossman-Mckinney says the company appears to have planned to sell its product for $25 to individuals and roughly $50 to colleges.
“That is an egregious profiteering on a product that isn’t going to do much if anything for a victim of sexual assault,” she says.
A spokesperson for the MeToo Kits ompany did not confirm those prices.
The MeToo Kits company says, in a written statement, that while their website is currently down “We are 100 percent not stopping or ceasing any operations in any capacity.”