Other Federal Enforcement

June 30, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling approximately $4 million to consumers who lost money to a debt collection operation that extorted payments from them using false threats. In May 2014, the FTC settled charges against Asset Capital and Management Group, which, under various names, illegally extracted payments from consumers for credit card debt the defendants had purchased from creditors. The settlement order banned the defendants from the debt collection industry. FTC

June 26, 2015

The FTC has approved a final consent order involving Network Solutions, LLC, which misled consumers who bought its web hosting services by falsely promising a full refund if they canceled within 30 days. In an administrative complaint announced in April 2015, the FTC alleged that Network Solutions, a domain name registrar and web hosting provider, offered web hosting packages with a “30 Day Money Back Guarantee,” but did not adequately disclose that it withheld up to 30 percent of the refund from customers who cancelled within 30 days of buying an annual or multi-year package and registering an included domain name. FTC

June 15, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling almost $1.9 million to consumers who lost money to a pyramid scheme that pretended to be a legitimate multi-level marketing program selling opportunities to operate online digital music stores. In June 2014, the FTC won an appeals court ruling upholding a district court finding that BurnLounge had operated a pyramid scheme. FTC

June 5, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling more than $467,000 to consumers who lost money to a scheme that charged large up-front fees for mortgage relief services that were not provided. The FTC won a court action against Jackson, Crowder & Associates and Crowder Law Group, in which the FTC alleged that the defendants falsely promised to modify consumers’ mortgages and substantially reduce their monthly payments, exaggerated the role an attorney would play, and pretended to be affiliated with a government agency. FTC

May 28, 2015

The FTC has reached a settlement resolving the Commission’s antitrust suit charging Cephalon, Inc. with illegally blocking generic competition to its blockbuster sleep-disorder drug Provigil. The settlement ensures that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., which acquired Cephalon in 2012, will make a total of $1.2 billion available to compensate purchasers, including drug wholesalers, pharmacies, and insurers, who overpaid because of Cephalon’s illegal conduct. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, “today’s landmark settlement is an important step in the FTC’s ongoing effort to protect consumers from anticompetitive pay for delay settlements, which burden patients, American businesses, and taxpayers with billions of dollars in higher prescription drug costs.”

May 26, 2015

Ashworth College has agreed to settle FTC charges it misrepresented to students that they would get the training and credentials needed to switch careers or get a new job, and that the course credits they earned would transfer to other schools. In reality, many programs offered by the for-profit institution did not meet state requirements for desired careers, and the claims made about credit transfers were often not true. Jessica Rich, Director, FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “when schools promise students they can transfer course credits or get a better job after completing their programs, they’d better be able to back up those claims.”

May 21, 2015

At the request of the FTC, a federal court has temporarily halted a sweepstakes operation based in Fort Lauderdale that took more than $28 million from consumers throughout the United States and other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The FTC seeks to permanently end the allegedly illegal practices and return money to victims.

May 15, 2015

The FTC mailed checks totaling approximately $3 million to consumers who lost money to TriVita, diet supplement marketers who made unsupported claims that their cactus-based fruit drink, Nopalea, would treat a variety of health problems.

May 12, 2015

The FTC charged Lunada Biomedical with misleading claims about weight loss. The FTC has filed a federal court complaint seeking to prohibit the company and its principals from advertising that their dietary supplement Amberen causes substantial weight loss for women over 40, and that the weight loss is clinically proven. Between 2010 and 2013, Lunada sold almost $65 million worth of Amberen nationwide. Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “Lunada marketed Amberen to women over 40 as ‘clinically proven’ to cause weight loss, but their own studies didn’t support those claims.”

April 21, 2015

National mortgage servicing company Green Tree Servicing LLC agreed to pay $63 million to resolve FTC charges that it harmed homeowners with illegal loan servicing and debt collection practices. The FTC alleged that Green Tree made illegal and abusive debt collection calls to consumers, misrepresented the amounts people owed, and failed to honor loan modification agreements between consumers and their prior servicers, among other charges. Green Tree has also agreed to create a home preservation plan for some distressed homeowners and take rigorous steps to ensure that it collects the correct amounts from consumers. FTC