Other Federal Enforcement

September 16, 2015

The operators of a fraudulent debt collection scheme will be banned from the debt collection business under a settlement with the FTC, resolving charges that they illegally processed more than $5.2 million in payments from consumers for payday loan debts they did not owe. The settlement resolves a complaint the FTC filed against Kirit Patel, Broadway Global Master Inc., and In-Arabia Solutions Inc. In 2012, alleging that callers working with the defendants harassed consumers into paying on bogus debts, often pretending to be agents of law enforcement or fake government agencies such as the “Federal Crime Unit of the Department of Justice.” FTC

September 16, 2015

The loan-servicing arm of Texas-based auto dealer Tricolor Auto Group will pay $82,777 in civil penalties as part of a settlement to address FTC charges that it failed to have written policies and procedures regarding the accuracy of reported credit information, and failed to properly investigate disputed consumer credit information. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the company’s loan-servicing group, Tricolor Auto Acceptance, LLC violated the Furnisher Rule, which was implemented under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. FTC

September 3, 2015

the FTC has approved a final order resolving the Commission’s complaint against Nomi Technologies for misleading consumers about the available choices to opt-out of the company’s mobile device tracking program. The settlement was first announced in April 2015. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that Nomi misled consumers with promises that it would provide an in-store mechanism for consumers to opt out of tracking and that consumers would be informed when locations were using Nomi’s tracking services. FTC

August 24, 2015

The FTC is mailing refund checks to consumers who lost money buying dietary supplements, Speak and Speak Smooth, deceptively marketed as proven effective at treating childhood speech disorders, including those associated with autism. The refunds are from money collected through a settlement, under which the NourishLife, LLC defendants agreed to stop making allegedly deceptive claims that their products develop and maintain normal, healthy speech and language capabilities in children. FTC

August 18, 2015

Pharmaceutical companies Concordia Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. have settled FTC charges that they entered into an unlawful agreement not to compete in the sale of generic versions of Kapvay, a prescription drug used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. As part of the settlement, the companies agreed not to enforce the anticompetitive provisions of their agreement, in which Concordia agreed not to sell an authorized generic version of Kapvay in exchange for a share of Par’s revenues. FTC

August 7, 2015

The FTC charged a data broker operation, including Sequoia One LLC and Gen X Marketing Group LLC, with illegally selling payday loan applicants’ financial information to a scam operation that took millions of dollars from consumers by debiting their bank accounts and charging their credit cards without their consent. According to the FTC’s complaint, the data broker enterprise bought loan applications from the operators of payday loan websites, and got others directly from consumers via their own payday loan websites. Instead of passing on those applications to legitimate payday lenders, the defendants sold the information to companies that raided the consumers’ accounts for at least $7.1 million. FTC

August 4, 2015

The operators of a bogus credit repair scheme that allegedly tricked Spanish-speaking consumers into paying thousands of dollars each to supposedly improve their credit will be banned from offering credit repair services and subject to a monetary judgment under settlements with the FTC. According to a federal court complaint filed by the Commission in March 2015, the defendants did business using the name FTC Credit Solutions, misleading consumers not only about the nature of the alleged credit repair services they offered, but also claiming an affiliation with the Commission that did not exist. FTC

July 27, 2015

A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under FTC settlements. The settlements resolve charges the FTC filed last year against Benjamin Todd Workman and Glenn Erikson and their companies. Their telemarketers falsely told consumers they needed their bank account numbers to verify their identities before sending a new Medicare card, promising they would not take money from the accounts. In fact, they took several hundred dollars from each consumer’s account and provided nothing in return. In some cases, their telemarketers falsely promised to provide consumers with identity theft protection services. FTC

July 8, 2015

The marketers of a dietary supplement called Procera AVH will relinquish $1.4 million under settlements resolving FTC charges that they deceived consumers with claims that the supplement was clinically proven to significantly improve memory, mood, and other cognitive functions. Under the terms of the settlements, the defendants will pay $1 million to the FTC, and another $400,000 to satisfy a judgment in a case brought by local California law enforcement officials. They also will be barred from making similar deceptive claims in the future and from misrepresenting the existence, results, or conclusions of any scientific study. FTC

July 7, 2015

The operators of a payday lending scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars from consumers by trapping them into loans they never authorized will be banned from the consumer lending business under FTC settlements. The settlements stem from charges the FTC filed last year alleging that Timothy A. Coppinger, Frampton T. Rowland III, and their companies targeted online payday loan applicants and, using information from lead generators and data brokers, deposited money into those applicants’ bank accounts without their permission. The defendants then withdrew reoccurring “finance” charges without any of the payments going to pay down the principal owed. FTC