Government Enforcement Actions

March 5, 2015

Acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced that ExxonMobil agreed to pay the State $225 million to resolve its liability for damage to the environment and injury to natural resources caused by contamination from its refinery operations in Bayonne and Linden, as well as from company service stations and other facilities located throughout New Jersey. NJ

March 5, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced settlements with home security system providers Security Networks, LLC and Vision Security, LLC to resolve allegations they made false or misleading statements in door-to-door sales of security alarm systems. These misrepresentations included that the companies were affiliated with the consumers’ current security monitoring companies and that the consumers’ products were outdated, in need of upgrades or that the consumers’ current monitoring companies were going out of business. FL

March 4, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission have taken action to stop multiple companies engaging in an illegal robocalling operation using political surveys to sell cruise line vacations. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., a marketing company, and seven associated companies participated in CCL’s massive robocalling scheme that allegedly circumvented telemarketing laws and made unlawful sales calls to consumers on the Do Not Call Registry. Florida led a coalition of ten attorneys general and joined the FTC in their investigative efforts to shut down this illegal operation that averaged 12 to 15 million illegal sales calls a day and generated millions of dollars for the companies. FL

March 3, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit arrested Christopher A. Days, owner of Better Days of North Central Florida, LLC., for more than $65,000 in Medicaid fraud for billing for services not rendered and failing to properly document for services rendered. FL

March 3, 2015

The CFTC announced that a complaint it filed under seal on February 25, 2015, charges Jerry Stauffer of Traverse City, Michigan, with fraudulently soliciting close to $1 million from the public to trade foreign exchange in a commodity pool by guaranteeing pool participants a monthly return on their investment based on profits purportedly earned from forex trading.  CFTC

March 3, 2015

A New York federal court ordered Mark Evan Bloom of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, and his firm North Hills Management, LLC to pay a $26 million civil monetary penalty for operating a fraudulent commodity pool called North Hills LP and misappropriating customer funds.  CFTC

March 2, 2015

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit against BP Inc. for wrongfully obtaining more than $33.3 million in reimbursement to clean up leaks from BP-owned underground storage tanks in Ohio. The state alleges that BP knowingly “double dipped” — taking money both from insurers and the Petroleum Board fund that comes from fees paid by the owners of underground storage tanks, such as gas station owners — to cover the cost of correcting accidental leaks from underground storage tanks at hundreds of BP gas stations throughout Ohio. OH

February 27, 2015

Identity theft topped the FTC’s national ranking of consumer complaints for the 15th consecutive year, while the agency also recorded a large increase in the number of complaints about so-called “imposter” scams, according to the FTC’s 2014 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. FTC

February 26, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced joint lawsuits with the Federal Trade Commission aiming to shut down two abusive debt collection rings operating in the Buffalo area and targeting consumers nationwide. According to the complaints, Four Star Resolution, LLC and Vantage Point Services, LLC used threats and abusive language, including false threats that consumers would be arrested, to collect more than $45M in supposed debts. NY

February 26, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General announced the arrest of Dr. Daniel Ronchetta, Chiropractic Physician Assistant John Crowe and patient recruiter Frank Barrios for allegedly defrauding Medicaid and Medicare by paying and receiving kickbacks in return for providing false home health prescriptions and plans of care to patient recruiters. FL