- Florida AG Ashley Moody sued advertising company Traffic Jam Events, LLC and its owner for allegedly mailing deceptive used car advertisements disguised as COVID-19 stimulus checks in violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties and attorneys’ fees and costs. The AG’s office also announced that it reached a settlement with MK Automotive, Inc., which supplied cars for Traffic Jam Events, under which MK Automotive must, among other things, pay $10,000 in restitution and a $1,000 civil fine.
- Texas AG Ken Paxton sued marketing company LeadGen Sales and Marketing LLC and its owner for allegedly sending deceptive robocalls that fraudulently marketed health insurance for COVID-19 testing and treatment as “Trump Care health plans” in violation of Texas’s Telephone Consumer Protection, Telemarketing Disclosure and Privacy, and Deceptive Trade Practices Acts. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent letters to 21 marketers warning them to stop misleading consumers by using unsubstantiated claims that their products and services can treat or prevent COVID-19. As previously reported, the FTC sent two sets of similar letters to other marketers in recent weeks.
- The FTC sent warning letters to ten multi-level marketing companies requiring them to remove misleading claims about their products’ ability to treat or prevent COVID-19 or about the earnings that recently-unemployed people can make by selling the companies’ products, or both.
- The FTC reached a settlement with supplement marketer Marc Ching, doing business as Whole Leaf Organics, to resolve allegations that he marketed a product under the name of “Thrive” as effective against COVID-19. Under the stipulated preliminary injunction order, Ching agreed to stop making these false claims.