Antitrust Enforcement

August 4, 2015

The operators of a bogus credit repair scheme that allegedly tricked Spanish-speaking consumers into paying thousands of dollars each to supposedly improve their credit will be banned from offering credit repair services and subject to a monetary judgment under settlements with the FTC. According to a federal court complaint filed by the Commission in March 2015, the defendants did business using the name FTC Credit Solutions, misleading consumers not only about the nature of the alleged credit repair services they offered, but also claiming an affiliation with the Commission that did not exist. FTC

July 8, 2015

The marketers of a dietary supplement called Procera AVH will relinquish $1.4 million under settlements resolving FTC charges that they deceived consumers with claims that the supplement was clinically proven to significantly improve memory, mood, and other cognitive functions. Under the terms of the settlements, the defendants will pay $1 million to the FTC, and another $400,000 to satisfy a judgment in a case brought by local California law enforcement officials. They also will be barred from making similar deceptive claims in the future and from misrepresenting the existence, results, or conclusions of any scientific study. FTC

July 7, 2015

The operators of a payday lending scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars from consumers by trapping them into loans they never authorized will be banned from the consumer lending business under FTC settlements. The settlements stem from charges the FTC filed last year alleging that Timothy A. Coppinger, Frampton T. Rowland III, and their companies targeted online payday loan applicants and, using information from lead generators and data brokers, deposited money into those applicants’ bank accounts without their permission. The defendants then withdrew reoccurring “finance” charges without any of the payments going to pay down the principal owed. FTC