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A Chicago federal appeals court upheld a multimillion-dollar judgment against the Mt. Prospect-based marketer of the Q-Ray bracelet, calling its therapeutic claims "a form of fraud."

QT Inc. sold more than a million bracelets between January 2000 and June 2003 through infomercials that claimed the "ionized bracelet" could relieve pain caused by everything from arthritis to chemotherapy. The Federal Trade Commission sued QT and Que Te "Andrew" Park, its chief executive, in 2003 for false advertising, citing a Mayo Clinic study that said the bracelet, which sold for $50 to $250 each, worked no better than a placebo.

In September 2006, a federal magistrate judge in Chicago sided with the FTC and ordered the company to give up an estimated $22.5 million in profits and also give a full refund to consumers who purchased bracelets over the Internet. The refunds could push the judgment to $87 million.

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