Government Enforcement Actions

March 31, 2015

The CFTC filed a lawsuit charging Maverick International, Inc. and its principals, Wesley Allen Brown and Edward Rubin, with operating a fraudulent commodity pool.  CFTC

March 30, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a landmark agreement with Pennsylvania-based retail giant GNC to implement new standards in authenticating herbal supplements, ensuring their purity, and educating consumers about their chemical content. GNC will be required to implement these new procedures in all of its more than 6,000 stores nationwide, making this agreement the first in the nation to require testing standards for herbal supplements that exceed current FDA requirements. NY

March 30, 2015

The CFTC announced that the District Court for the District of Columbia entered an order against Daniel Shak of Las Vegas, Nevada, for his violation of a prior CFTC Administrative Order; Shak must pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty for violating the terms of the CFTC order regarding his attempt to manipulate the price of crude oil futures contracts on the NYME and violating speculative position limits.  CFTC

March 27, 2015

The FTC mailed 358 refund checks totaling $939,207 to consumers who lost money after paying performance deposits to become business or sales consultants to National Business Consultants, Inc. and its owner, Robert Namer. According to the FTC, the company falsely told consumers, among other things, that they provide consulting assignments, so consumers do not have to market their own services, that their consultants and sales consultants were likely to earn between $35,000 and $100,000 per year through their program, and that the company would refund deposits to consultants who earn a specific amount of money within a certain time frame. FTC

March 27, 2015

The CFTC announced that the District Court for South Carolina entered an order of permanent injunction against Robert Stanley Harrison of Easley, South Carolina, permanently banning him from engaging in commodity-related activity.  CFTC

March 26, 2015

Pinnacle Financial Consulting, LLC and its owner Robert Burton have been ordered to pay more than $1.9 million for preying upon vulnerable consumers during the foreclosure crisis and engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. MA

March 26, 2015

Energy Services Providers Inc. (d/b/a Pennsylvania Gas and Electric) agreed to pay $2.3 million in refunds to eligible consumers in addition to the $4.5 million the company has already paid for allegedly deceptively marketing its variable electric rates to Pennsylvania consumers, many of whom filed complaints about spikes in their rates during the winter of 2014. PA

March 23, 2015

The CFTC ordered Marubeni America Corporation, a dealer and merchant of agricultural commodities and the largest overseas subsidiary of Japan-based Marubeni Corporation, to pay $800,000 for inaccurately reporting positions in grains futures.  CFTC

March 20, 2015

The FTC mailed 10,620 refund checks totaling more than $416,000 to consumers who lost money buying two skin creams marketed by L’Occitane, Inc., which falsely claimed the creams had “body slimming” capabilities. The refunds are being made from money collected under a January 2014 settlement order with the company, which also agreed to stop making deceptive claims that its Almond Beautiful Shape and Almond Shaping Delight skin creams have body-slimming capabilities and are clinically proven. FTC

March 20, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit announced the arrests of four individuals for allegedly recruiting the homeless to defraud Medicaid. According to the investigation, Christina Benson, owner of Tranquility Healthcare Solutions, billed Medicaid for services not provided or warranted for homeless men and women who were recruited by her associates to pose as patients. In less than a year and a half, Tranquility fraudulently billed Medicaid approximately $3.2 million. FL