Whistleblower Group

February 3, 2015

Judge Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered an emergency restraining order freezing assets and prohibiting the destruction or concealment of books and records of defendants Christopher Valois, Cynthia Wong, and their companies, Bertram Trade LLC and Churchhill Commodities Trading LLC, all of Orange County California.  The judge set a hearing date for February 12, 2015.  CFTC

February 3, 2015

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, along with the DOJ and the attorneys general of 18 states and the District of Columbia, announced a settlement with Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and its parent company McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. to resolve federal and state civil claims related to S&P’s conduct in inflating ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities and structured investment vehicle notes. Combined with a separate settlement also announced today resolving a lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), S&P will pay a total of $1.5B to federal and state government entities. The State of California will recover $210M in damages, from which CalPERS and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) will receive allocations for their losses on investments of certain S&P-rated securities. Separately, S&P will also pay CalPERS $125M to settle CalPERS’ specific lawsuit. The remainder of the total settlement proceeds will be distributed amongst the DOJ and the other nineteen attorneys general. CA

February 3, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a complaint against Ocean Hunters, Inc. and its owner Abdiel Falcon for violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by allegedly deceiving Florida consumers who purchased the company’s open water scuba diving certification courses. FL

February 2, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced his office obtained two separate judgments of nearly $800,000 against Emstar Pizza, a Papa John’s franchisee, and its owner and operator for underpaying employees. The violations include shaving workers’ pay by under-reporting hours and rounding down hours worked to the nearest whole hour increment (and paying nothing for fractions of hours), as well as nonpayment of overtime premiums—all in violation of New York State Labor Law. NY

January 30, 2015

The FTC reached settlements with First American Title Lending and Finance Select, two car title lenders, that will require them to stop their use of deceptive advertising to market title loans. The FTC charged that the companies advertised, both online and in print, zero percent interest rates for a 30-day car title loan without disclosing important loan conditions or the increased finance charge imposed after the introductory period ended. “This type of loan is risky for consumers because if they fail to pay, they could lose their car – an asset many of them can’t live without,” said Jessica Rich, director, FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Without proper disclosures, consumers can’t know what they’re getting, so when we see deceptive marketing of these loans we’re going to take action to stop it.” FTC

January 30, 2015

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Neighborhood Diabetes, Inc. will pay more than $1.5M to settle allegations it improperly billed and received payments from the state’s Medicaid program when it automatically refilled prescription medications that were not specifically requested by MassHealth patients or caregivers. The settlement is the second case in the Commonwealth to address a pharmacy’s operation of an improper automatic refill program with MassHealth members. In September 2013, AllCare Pharmacy agreed to pay $1.6M to settle similar allegations. MA