Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The Federal Trade Commission has stopped a scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars out of consumers burdened with student loan debt by pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education in violation of the FTC’s Impersonation Rule, collecting illegal advance fees, and making other deceptive claims.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada entered a temporary restraining order on November 22, 2024 and a preliminary injunction against corporate defendant Superior Servicing on December 6, 2024.  

The Federal Trade Commission filed an amended complaint adding corporate defendants Sunrise Solutions USA LLC, Alumni Advantage LLC, Student Processing Center Group LLC, SPCTWO LLC, Accredit LLC and individual defendants Eric Caldwell and David Hernandez. 

In September 2025, the FTC announced that Caldwell and Hernandez will be permanently banned from the debt relief industry and will be required to turn over their assets to resolve FTC charges that they helped operate an illegal student loan debt-relief operation. Additionally, Caldwell will be banned from the telemarketing industry, and Hernandez will be prohibited from violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

Litigation continues against Merdjanian and the corporate defendants.

The FTC will require Cox Media Group, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works to pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations they deceived customers by falsely claiming to offer an AI-powered service that could target localized ads based on conversations captured from consumers’ smart devices and that consumers had opted into such targeting

The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Nevada are taking action to stop a wide-ranging investment training and business venture scam that has bilked consumers out of more than $1.2 billion. According to the complaint filed by the FTC and the Nevada Attorney General, the scam currently operates as IYOVIA and has also used the brand names IM Mastery Academy, iMarketsLive, and IM Academy (collectively, “IML”).

On Aug. 7, 2025, the FTC announced that three of the defendants, Global Dynasty Network, LLC, Jason Brown, and Matthew Rosa, agreed to a settlement of the allegations.

In August 2025, a U.S. District Court judge in Nevada has issued a preliminary injunction against the three companies that executed the IM Mastery Academy schemes and the two individuals who have led it, halting their activities and requiring them to preserve their assets.

Following settlements with several other defendants, in September 2025, the FTC announced proposed settlements with defendants Alex Morton and Brandon Boyd. 

In May 2026, the FTC announced settlements with five individual and corporate IM Mastery Academy defendants, including ringleaders Chris and Isis Terry.

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of FTC, and the state of Illinois sued Chicago-based company Premium Home Service (PHS) and its owner for fraudulently creating thousands of fake online business listings for home repair companies to deceive consumers into thinking they were choosing reputable local companies for home repairs. 

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, and the Wisconsin Attorney General, filed suit against Consumer Law Protection and related companies, along with their owners and operators, Christopher Carroll, George Reed, Louann Reed, Scott Jackson, and Eduardo Balderas for scamming consumers—mostly older adults—out of more than $90 million in a massive timeshare exit scam.

 The FTC and Maryland Attorney General charged Lindsay Automotive Group with systematically deceiving and overcharging car-buying consumers for years, costing them millions of dollars in junk fees and unwanted add-on products.

In December 2024, the FTC and Maryland Attorney General charged Lindsay Automotive Group with systematically deceiving and overcharging car-buying consumers for years, costing them millions of dollars in junk fees and unwanted add-on products. In March 2026 the FTC announced a settlement in the case in which the defendants will pay full refunds and additional penalties to redress defrauded consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against Financial Education Services and its owners, Parimal Naik, Michael Toloff, Christopher Toloff and Gerald Thompson, as well as a number of related companies, for scamming consumers out of more than $213 million.

In response to a complaint filed by the FTC, a federal court has temporarily shut down the sprawling bogus credit repair scheme. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the company preys on consumers with low credit scores by luring them in with the false promise of an easy fix and then recruiting them to join a pyramid scheme selling the same worthless credit repair services to others. 

According to the FTC’s complaint, Michigan-based Financial Education Services, also doing business as United Wealth Services, has operated its scheme since at least 2015. The company claims to offer consumers the ability to remove negative information from credit reports and increase credit scores by hundreds of points, charging as much as $89 per month for their services. Their techniques, according to the complaint, are rarely effective and in many instances harm consumer’s credit scores.

In March 2026, the FTC sent more than $10.9 million to consumers harmed by the credit repair pyramid scheme.

The Federal Trade Commission and 10 states are suing sham charity Cancer Recovery Foundation International, also known as Women’s Cancer Fund, and its operator, Gregory B. Anderson, for deceiving generous donors who sought to offer financial support to women battling cancer and their families.

In a complaint filed in federal court, the FTC and states allege that, from 2017 to 2022, Women’s Cancer Fund collected more than $18 million from donors. The sham charity claimed that it would use the donated funds to help women who were undergoing treatment for cancer and their families pay for basic needs. Instead, the complaint charges, only about a penny of every dollar donated went to provide such support, while the overwhelming majority went to pay for-profit fundraisers and Anderson.

The Federal Trade Commission, along with 22 agencies from 19 states, stopped a deceptive charity fundraising scheme and its operators who made false or deceptive claims to U.S. donors.

Kars-R-Us.com, Inc. (Kars) and its operators, Michael Irwin and Lisa Frank, solicited charitable donations nationwide on behalf of United Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (UBCF), a charity that claims to assist individuals affected by breast cancer, according to a complaint filed by the FTC and states (link to complaint).

Under a proposed settlement order reached with the FTC and its state partners, Kars and its operators face restrictions on future fundraising activities and Irwin, Kars’s President and co-owner until 2022, will be permanently banned from fundraising.

In September 2024, the FTC announced that Ryan Cohen, managing partner of RC Ventures, LLC, and Chairman and CEO of GameStop Corp., will pay a $985,320 civil penalty to settle charges that his acquisition of Wells Fargo & Company shares violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

In November 2018, the FTC announced that a federal district court in Maryland issued an order temporarily shutting down the largest overseas real estate investment scam the FTC has ever targeted. According to the FTC, the scam was established by Andris Pukke, a recidivist scammer currently living in California, and he perpetuated it even while serving a prison sentence for obstruction of justice. The alleged scheme took in more than $100 million, marketing lots in what supposedly would become a luxury development in Central America known by several names, including Sanctuary Belize, Sanctuary Bay, and The Reserve. The FTC alleged that the defendants misled consumers when selling these lots, lying about how risky investments in the development were, how the development was funded, what would be done with money paid for lots, what amenities the development would have, the timeframe those amenities would be built, consumers’ ability to resell lots, and Andris Pukke’s involvement. Several defendants settled prior to the January 2020 trial.

In late August 2020, the district court issued its verdict, finding in favor of the FTC. In early 2021, the court issued final orders against Andris Pukke, Peter Baker, Luke Chadwick, John Usher, and the corporate defendants, limiting what types of business they can engage in moving forward and entering a $120.2 million judgment against them. The defendants appealed and largely lost. During the appeal, Luke Chadwick settled, turning over certain assets and agreeing to a modified order further limiting the types of business he can engage in. After the appeal, the district court entered an order confirming that Andris Pukke, Peter Baker, and John Usher must turn over $120.2 million as well as the corporate defendants and their assets to compensate their victims.  In August 2023, the FTC sent approximately $10 million to consumer defrauded by the Sanctuary Belize investment scheme. In February 2026, the FTC announced a second redress mailing to consumer victims of the scheme.