Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), and the Department of Law filed a lawsuit against Equte, LLC and Vapes.com for marketing and selling flavored vaping products, including to underage Chicagoans. This is the first lawsuit enforcing the City’s recent ban on flavored tobacco products. Last September the City Council passed an ordinance banning the sale of flavored vaping products in Chicago, targeting liquid nicotine products that create taste or aroma other than tobacco. The ordinance was the latest measure by the City to prevent young people from developing a potentially lifelong addiction to nicotine.  BACP conducted the investigation that identified the defendants as having violated the City’s flavored tobacco ban.  The City has filed numerous lawsuits against vaping manufacturers and retailers for deceptive marketing and illegal sales to young people. Chicago was also one of the first cities in the nation to add e-cigarettes to its Clean Indoor Air Ordinance, the first big city to impose a vaping tax, and the first jurisdiction anywhere to include menthol in a flavored tobacco sales ban, which covers stores within 500 feet of high schools.