FTC Sues Dozens to Stop ‘Total Fraud’

PHOENIX (CN) - Money Now Funding and dozens of other abusive telemarketers target senior citizens in "business" and "loan" scams that are "a total fraud," the FTC claims in Federal Court.

The FTC wants the long list of defendants enjoined from telling victims that "they will earn income by referring small businesses seeking loans to Money Now Funding. Despite defendants' assurances that consumers will easily generate hundreds or thousands of dollars per month in income, consumers typically lose their investment because the program is a total fraud, with losses ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per consumer. Defendants are not actually in the business of making or brokering loans to small businesses, and consumers, therefore, never earn any of the promised commissions on the sale of such loans. Many victims affected by this scam are seniors with limited income and savings."

The complaint continues: "Defendants' scheme requires the cooperation of numerous parties. Each corporate defendant and individual defendant plays an integral role in the scheme. The defendants fall into three categories: (1) Telemarketing defendants, who call consumers and persuade them to buy the business opportunity by making false representations; (2) Initial Payment defendants, who obtain consumers' authorizations for their initial payment for the business opportunity and provide a limited liability company and a website; and (3) Factoring defendants, who establish and use multiple merchant accounts under the names of various shell entities to process consumers' credit card payments for business leads and other services. The three groups of defendants operate as a common enterprise, perpetrating a single scheme."

The FTC seeks disgorgement, penalties and injunctions. Twenty individuals are named as defendants alongside eight Arizona LLC. Those corporate entities are:

Money Now Funding LLC aka Money Now Funded aka Cash4businesses aka Cashfourbusinesses;

Rose Marketing LLC;

Depaola Marketing LLC;

Affiliate Marketing Group LLC;

Legal Doxs LLC aka First Business LLC;

US Doc Assist LLC aka First Business LLC;

Affinity Technologies LLC;

Marketing Expert Solutions LLC.

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