When the Federal Trade Commission proposed new rules this spring for multilevel marketers — businesses best known for commercials that promise riches selling herbal supplements and beauty supplies — it drew howls of protest. Tupperware party-givers, diet pill vendors and knife salesmen sent the agency more than 15,000 letters complaining that the proposed rules would undo a $30-billion-a-year industry.

Now the regulator has gained an unusual ally: short sellers.

These investors are betting that the stocks of multilevel marketing companies will decline when the new rules, which have received little public attention, go into effect.

Why Short Sellers Want to Crash the Tupperware Party | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg, S.C.