SoCal Man is Scamming Texans, AG Says

HOUSTON (CN) - Operating out of a UPS box in Los Angeles, a bogus company called Medical Data Compliance is bilking Texas businesses by sending "official-looking" forms demanding $150 to register their corporate "minutes" in Texas, the attorney general says.

"The Secretary of State does not need or want corporation minutes, nor is there any requirement that they be filed; the defendants are not agents of the state, nor are they collecting the fees on behalf of the state," Attorney General Greg Abbott says in Harris County Court.

Company owner Michael Fourthier, of Venice, Calif., and Reno, Nev., is bilking Texas businesses with forms called "Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement - Shareholders and Directors," the state says. The dunning letters include the incorporation date of the targeted sucker company, to mislead its owners into believing the documents are from the state of Texas, Abbott says.

Abbott wants a restraining order freezing Medical Data Compliance's accounts and its mail drop at the 8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. UPS Store in Los Angeles, plus disgorgement and penalties of up to $20,000 per violation of deceptive trade laws.

"Delay will result in more fraudulently obtained dollars being transferred from the mailbox to the defendant's coffers," Abbott says.

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