Misrepresentations

May 4, 2022

Intuit reached an agreement with all 50 states to pay $141 million in restitution for deceptively steering low-income taxpayers to a paid tax preparation service rather than the free service as advertised. Intuit utilized deceptive television ads (“free, free, free”), paid search advertisements to direct customers to Intuit’s “freemium” product, and blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results during the 2019 tax filing season. NYAG; NJ OAG; DE AG; FL AG; NY AG; PA AG; NC AG

April 28, 2022

Publicly-traded asset manager Medley Management and its former CEOs, Brook and Seth Taube, have agreed to pay $10 million in civil penalties to resolve SEC charges of making material misrepresentations to investors and clients.  Through multiple public filings dating back to at least 2016, Medley and the Taubes allegedly overstated assets under management, failed to disclose certain risks, and made unfounded projections of Medley’s likely future growth to sway investors toward voting for a merger between Medley and two of its clients.  SEC

April 19, 2022

John Rick Winer, 68, will spend 262 months in federal prison and pay $11 million in restitution for conspiring to defraud investors via a scheme spanning several US states. Winer, with his co-conspirators, solicited millions from donors for nonexistent charitable or humanitarian projects, and then laundered the proceeds. The conspirators utilized numerous fake entities, including one “House of Winer” to further the fraud. Winer is required to forfeit a residence in Norway, a luxury vehicle, approximately $4 million in silver coins, and a laptop. Upon completion of his prison term, Winer will spend 3 years under supervised release. USAO SD

April 14, 2022

Andrew J. Chapin, former CEO of Benja Inc. will pay $2.8 million to settle  charges that he violated the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act. Chapin touted Benja’s online advertising platform as successful, claiming it generated millions in revenue from popular consumer brands. He enlisted the help of associates who impersonated actual Benja representatives, as well as a person who posed as the “founder” of a venture capital fund who had invested heavily in Benja. Chapin is enjoined from further SEC violations and is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company. SEC

April 12, 2022

Robert A. Karmann, a CPA and former CFO of DC Solar, was sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to pay $624 million for his role in perpetrating a Ponzi-style scheme, by taking new investor money to pay older investors, and deploying circular transactions to cover up their illicit behavior. DC Solar manufactured trailer-mounted solar generators and marketed them as having extensive third-party lease demand. Karmann and his co-conspirators offered falsified financial statements and operation reports and provided fabricated revenue summaries to victims of the scheme. Karmann oversaw the hidden transfers of funds, gave false information to investor representatives, and instructed a subordinate to “make it up” when asked by a customer for reports on the location of their solar generators. USAO EDCA

April 7, 2022

Alan Friedland, Fintech Investment Group, Inc., and Compcoin LLC will pay $1.8 million to settle allegations of Commodities Exchange Act violations. Friedland, through his companies, fraudulently solicited customers to invest in a nonexistent proprietary forex trading algorithm, ART, which promised highly successful prediction of forex rates for its users. The defendants solicited customers over a 2-year period, knowing that the required approval from National Futures Association had not been obtained. The approval never materialized, and the investors were saddled with a worthless digital asset. The Court entered an order for permanent injunction, monetary sanctions, and equitable relief against the defendants. CFTC

March 16, 2022

Online travel agency Fareportal Inc., which operates travel websites such as CheapOair.com and OneTravel.com, has agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle claims of misleading consumers with deceptive marketing tactics intended to create false demand and pressure consumers into making purchases.  As part of the settlement, the company is also required to display accurate, real-time information to consumers.  NY AG

March 15, 2022

Fund manager Eric Malley, his company MG Capital Management LP, and related entities MG Capital Realty Management LLC and MG GP III LP, have agreed to pay $12 million to resolve charges of defrauding investors.  In order to market two real estate funds managed by MG Capital, Malley allegedly made a number of material misrepresentations, including that he’d previously managed two highly successful funds and that investor funds were protected against loss.  In fact, Malley was a real estate broker with no experience managing investments, the prior funds did not exist, and he was misappropriating millions from the new funds.  SEC

March 14, 2022

An energy service company has agreed to pay $2.15 million in restitution to New York consumers after an investigation found that its dishonest business practices caused consumers to pay hundreds of dollars extra per year for gas and electricity.  In addition to the monetary penalty, Family Energy is also required to take measures to prevent future abuses, including adequately training its representatives, monitoring and recording telephone communications, refraining from misleading marketing, and implementing disciplinary actions for any violations.  NY AG

March 8, 2022

The operators of online stock trading site RagingBull.com, which used bogus earnings claims to lure customers into expensive and hard to cancel subscriptions, have been ordered to pay $2.4 million.  The proposed settlement order also prohibits the defendants from making similar claims in the future, requires them to obtain informed consent from consumers before signing them up to subscriptions, and requires them to provide consumers with easy methods of cancellation.  FTC