Two California hospice facility owners were arrested today in Los Angeles on criminal charges related to their alleged participation in a kickback and health care fraud scheme. According to court documents, Oganes Doganyan, 49, of Northridge, and Kristine Arutyunyan, 38, of Glendale, paid illegal kickbacks for the referral of Medicare beneficiary information that could be … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission obtained an order permanently banning a payment processor that facilitated a fraudulent student loan debt relief scheme from processing debt relief payments. The order also requires the company and its owner to surrender $500,000 to the FTC for consumer redress. The FTC’s complaint against Automatic Funds Transfer Services, Inc. (AFTS) and … Read more
A three-count criminal indictment was unsealed yesterday in federal court in the Eastern District of New York charging Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda, 54, of Madrid, Spain; Fernando Haberer Bergson, 48, of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Ernesto Heraclito Weisson Pazmino, 53, of Miami, Florida, with conspiring to defraud investors and financial institutions as part of an … Read more
A California-licensed homeopathic doctor was arrested recently for her alleged scheme to sell homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets and to falsify COVID-19 vaccination cards by making it appear that customers had received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Moderna vaccine. Juli A. Mazi, 41, of Napa, is charged with one count of wire fraud and … Read more
Made in USA labels will finally mean goods were made in America The Federal Trade Commission finalized a new rule that will crack down on marketers who make false, unqualified claims that their products are Made in the USA. Under the rule, marketers making unqualified Made in USA claims on labels should be able to … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission is sending refunds totaling more than $223,000 to people who lost money to a student loan and mortgage debt relief operation. The FTC alleged that A1 DocPrep Inc., Streamlined Marketing, and their owner, Horman Ardalan falsely claimed to be from the Department of Education, and promised to reduce borrowers’ monthly payments … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission is sending checks totaling more than $316,000 to 10,689 people who lost money to a student loan debt relief scheme. In a complaint first announced in March 2020, the FTC alleged SLAC (which also used the name Aspyre), Navloan, and Student Loan Assistance Center, and their owner, Adam Owens, falsely told … Read more
In a newly filed amended complaint, the Federal Trade Commission alleges that merchant cash advance provider RCG Advances and other defendants made multiple unauthorized withdrawals from small businesses’ banks, sometimes taking thousands of dollars more than the agreed repayment amount. The amended complaint also alleges that RCG, formerly known as Richmond Capital Group, LLC and … Read more
Career Education Corporation refund distribution, averaging more than $3,700 per person, is the largest per person average in agency’s history The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $30 million in refunds to people tricked by agents working on behalf of Career Education Corporation (currently operating as Perdoceo Education Corporation), the operator of several post-secondary schools. … Read more
Since October 2020, consumers have reported losing more than $80 million to cryptocurrency investment scams, an increase of more than ten-fold year-over-year, according to a new data analysis from the Federal Trade Commission. In a new consumer protection data spotlight, the FTC breaks down the contents of nearly 7,000 reports received from consumers about these … Read more
The operators of a student loan debt relief scheme are banned from providing debt relief services and have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they collected illegal upfront fees and falsely promised to lower or even eliminate consumers’ loan payments or balances. In its 2019 complaint the FTC alleged that Student Advocates Team … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $147,000 in full refunds to people affected by a student loan debt relief scam. According to an amended FTC complaint filed in 2019, corporate defendants Impetus Enterprise, Inc., Fig Tree & Co., LLC, Capital Sun Investments, and individual defendants Tuan Duong, Brenda Avitia-Pena, Brian Colombana, and Jimmy … Read more
Company failed to deliver DSL Internet speeds for which consumers paid and were promised The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement agencies from six states, sued Internet service provider Frontier Communications, alleging that the company did not provide many consumers with Internet service at the speeds it promised them, and charged many of them … Read more
Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter issued the following statement regarding recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of AMG Capital Management LLC v. FTC: “In AMG Capital, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of scam artists and dishonest corporations, leaving average Americans to pay for illegal behavior,” Acting Chairwoman … Read more
More than 147,000 refunds sent to students affected by the school’s deceptive ads The Federal Trade Commission is sending payments totaling nearly $50 million to more than 147,000 University of Phoenix (UOP) students who may have been lured by allegedly deceptive advertisements. The refunds stem from a lawsuit the FTC filed against UOP alleging that … Read more