Government Enforcement Actions

September 17, 2015

Terry Lee Phillips of Indianapolis, Indiana, and his two companies, Phillips Investment & Trust LLC and Corporate I Communications & Technology Inc., will pay over $200,000 to settle charges that they defrauded 11 investors out of at least $113,000.  CFTC

September 17, 2015

The CFTC has issued a cease and desist order against Coinflip, Inc. d/b/a Derivabit and its chief executive officer Francisco Riordan for conducting activity related to commodity options transactions without complying with the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.  CFTC

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 11, 2015

The CFTC has charged Hannes Tulving, Jr. of Newport Beach, California, and his company, The Tulving Company, Inc., with fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation of at least $17.8 million from over 380 customers for the purchase and sale of precious metals.  CFTC

September 10, 2015

The Washington Attorney General announced a suit against CareOne Dental Corporation and related individuals for Medicaid fraud. The suit alleges that the defendants systematically billed Medicaid for non-covered services which they misrepresented in their billings, “upcoded” services (more expensive versions of what they actually performed), and services they simply didn’t provide. The Attorney General’s Office currently estimates at least 20 percent of the claims CareOne Dental presented to Medicaid from January 2011 to June of 2015 were fraudulent, which would amount to approximately $1 million in single damages. WA

September 9, 2015

Donovan Davis Jr., a former principal of Capital Blu Management, LLC, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison on multiple counts of criminal conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with the operation of a fraudulent $17 million commodity pool.  CFTC

September 8, 2015

Forex Capital Markets, LLC has agreed to pay $843,000 to settle charges that it failed to diligently supervise its officers’, employees’, and agents’ handling of accounts held in the name of a fraudulent foreign currency exchange pool, Revelation Forex Fund, LP. CFTC

September 8, 2015

The CFTC has charged Rodney Scott Phelps, Jason T. Castenir, and the companies they control - Maverick Asset Management, LLC and Maverick Investment Holdings, LLC – with fraudulently soliciting at least $1.2 million from members of the public to trade commodity futures in a pool, misappropriating more than $800,000 of pool participants’ funds for their personal use, and misrepresenting the profitability of their trading.  CFTC

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