Consumer Protection Mission
Criminal Contempt Actions

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Title1	Number	Action Date	Type of Matter	Product/Service
(Meridian Capital Management, Inc.) Jeffrey A. Jordan	X950060	4/09/97	Telemarketing Fraud	Investment Scheme "Recovery Room"
(Metropolitan Communications Corp.) Joan Orth	X940024	9/08/97	Investment Fraud	Specialized Mobile Radio Licenses
(Perma-Derm Academy) Ronald Dante, d/b/a	X900025	3/12/97	Misrepresented Training and Potential Earnings	"Permanent Makeup" Workshops

1A company name shown in parentheses is for identification of the case only. The company is not a defendant in the item shown in the table. (Meridian Capital Management, Inc.)

Jeffrey A. Jordan

A U.S. district court ordered Jeffrey Jordan to show cause why he should not be held in criminal contempt pursuant to a petition charging him with violating a court-ordered asset freeze. The order stemmed from a 1995 case in which the Commission alleged that Jordan was part of a fraudulent telemarketing "recovery room," together with Meridian Capital Management, Inc., Advisory Consultants, Inc., and other individuals. The court temporarily halted the allegedly deceptive business practices and froze the defendants' assets to preserve them for consumer redress or disgorgement and subsequently entered a default judgment against Jordan. The Commission alleged that Jordan disobeyed the asset freeze provisions of the preliminary injunction by cashing certain checks and selling personal property without holding and accounting for the checks or property. Jordan was formally charged with the violations and entered a plea of not guilty. (Also see Meridian Capital Management, Inc., pages 98 and 128.)   (Metropolitan Communications Corp.)

Joan Orth

Joan Orth, a defendant in a massive plan to sell Federal Communications Commission (FCC) specialized mobile radio licenses as a "low-risk, high-return" investment, pled guilty in July 1997 to violating a court-ordered asset freeze. The freeze was imposed as part of a settlement of allegations that the FCC license sales and services were based on false and misleading claims. The Commission alleged that Orth had transferred funds from her bank accounts and made other transfers in violation of the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. (Also see Metropolitan Communications Corp., page 128).   (Perma-Derm Academy; American Dermalogy Association)

Ronald Dante, d/b/a

Ronald Dante was ordered by a U.S. district court to show cause why he should not be held in criminal contempt pursuant to a petition charging him with violating a permanent injunction. The order stemmed from a 1990 case in which the Commission alleged that Dante, doing business under two company names, misrepresented the training he provided at his "permanent makeup" workshops, the value of the certificates awarded, and the potential earnings of trainees. In 1991, an order was issued permanently barring Dante from making such misrepresentations and requiring him to make certain disclosures in advertising permanent makeup classes. According to the Commission, Dante violated the order by failing to make the required disclosures in connection with classes offered by Permanetics Institute, a company he owned and operated under an assumed name, and further violated the order by making misrepresentations about potential earnings in connection with paralegal courses offered by the American Professional Institute, a subsidiary of Permanetics. Dante was formally charged with the violations and entered a plea of not guilty.

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