(CN) - A Kentucky-based direct-sales operation agreed to refund up to $1.3 million to Texas customers to settle allegations that it ran a pyramid scheme, the Texas Attorney General's Office said. Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, based in Lexington, Ky., agreed not to do it again, and said it will pay up to $299 to each qualified customer.
"In a typical illegal pyramid scheme, a purchaser or investor pays a fee for the opportunity to receive profits in the future. Those payments are primarily derived by inducing others to join the operation and pay a fee, rather than from the sale of an actual product or service," prosecutors said in a statement. "Fortune Hi-Tech's customers complained that the defendant falsely represented the earnings they would achieve if they became one of the defendant's independent representatives."
Victims may obtain information about the settlement and submit a refund claim to the company by downloading a claim from the Attorney General's web site: https://www.oag.state.tx.us.
Claims must be submitted by Nov. 28.
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