Government Enforcement Actions

October 1, 2015

The FTC is mailing 23,406 checks totaling more than $3.7 million to consumers who lost money after buying LeanSpa, a supplement whose marketers allegedly made deceptive weight-loss claims. The FTC and the State of Connecticut sued the marketers of LeanSpa in December 2011, charging that they used fake websites to promote acai berry and “colon cleanse” weight-loss products, and falsely told consumers they could receive free trials by paying a nominal shipping and handling cost. In reality, consumers ended up paying $79.95 for the trial, and for recurring monthly shipments of the product that were hard to cancel. FTC

September 30, 2015

Alfred C. Toepfer International, Inc., a global merchandiser of agricultural commodities, will pay a $400,000 penalty for failing to comply with its legal obligation to submit accurate monthly CFTC Form 204 Reports regarding the composition of Toepfer’s fixed price cash grain purchases and sales.  CFTC

September 30, 2015

The CFTC filed charges against Guardian Asset Group, LLC and its owner and principal, Andrew Kurzbard, both of West Palm Beach, Florida, alleging that the defendants engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.  CFTC

September 30, 2015

The CFTC ordered Deutsche Bank AG to pay a $2.5 million penalty for swaps reporting violations and related supervision failures.  CFTC

September 29, 2015

The New Jersey Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor obtained an indictment against a doctor, Syed Jaffery, for accepting kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals. The indictment alleges that from 2010 to 2013, Jaffrey participated in a scheme by which he agreed to refer patients needing MRI and CT scans to Diagnostic Imaging Services of South Jersey in exchange for monetary kickbacks. Over the course of the scheme, Jaffrey allegedly accepted approximately $195,000. In an attempt to disguise the arrangement, the kickback checks were made payable to Jaffrey’s alleged shell company Mask Realities and purported to be for a rental space for billing services. NJ

September 29, 2015

The CFTC ordered Barbara Cohen of Tarpon Springs, Florida, to pay a $140,000 penalty on charges that she made false statements of material fact to CFTC staff and that the website of Cohen’s company, Pure Reason, LLC promoted Pure Reason’s trading software by demonstrating profitable trading results without disclosing that these results were based on hypothetical, and not actual, trades.  CFTC

September 29 ,2015

American Portfolio Asset Management, Inc. and its owner, Alan M. Kneller, both of Boca Raton, Florida, will pay over $578,000 in restitution and penalties to settle charges that they illegally offering off-exchange financed transactions in precious metals to retail customers.  CFTC

September 29, 2015

The CFTC ordered Daniel Bowman of Lisle, Illinois, to pay a $35,000 penalty to settle charges that he exceeded the spot month speculative position limit for the Live Cattle futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  CFTC

September 29, 2015

The CFTC have filed a lawsuit against Harvard Assets LLC, London Assets Inc., and Harvard International Trading, Inc., all three operating in Florida, and their controlling person, Todd Owen Marshall for engaging in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers.  CFTC

September 29, 2015

The FTC is mailing 6,832 checks totaling more than $1.1 million to consumers who lost money to a health insurance scam. In 2012, the FTC charged the Independent Association of Businesses and Health Service Providers defendants with violating the FTC Act and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule by deceiving consumers seeking comprehensive health insurance. Instead of health coverage, consumers received membership in IAB, an obscure trade association that provided purported discounts on services such as identity-theft protection, travel, and roadside assistance, and some healthcare related benefits that were subject to broad exclusions and limitations. FTC