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May 2, 2016

At the FTC鈥檚 request, a federal court has found BlueHippo Funding LLC, BlueHippo Capital LLC and BlueHippo鈥檚 CEO Joseph Rensin in contempt for operating a deceptive computer financing scheme in violation of a federal court order that the defendants agreed to in 2008. The court also entered judgment against Rensin for $13.4 million, the harm consumers suffered as a result of the scheme.

April 25, 2016

Star Pipe Products, Ltd., a supplier of ductile iron pipe fittings, will pay $120,000 in civil penalties to resolve FTC allegations that it violated a 2012 Commission order prohibiting it from sharing competitively sensitive information. It also has agreed to an order modification that adds training and notification obligations to prevent future violations.

April 12, 2016

Four companies that market skin care products, shampoos, and sunscreens online 鈥� ShiKai, Rocky Mountain Sunscreen, EDEN BodyWorks, and Beyond Coastal 鈥� have agreed to settle FTC charges that they falsely claimed that their products are 鈥渁ll natural鈥� or 鈥�100% natural,鈥� despite the fact that they contain synthetic ingredients. The proposed consent orders bar the four settling respondents from misrepresenting the following when advertising, promoting, or selling a product: 1) whether the product is all natural or 100 percent natural; 2) the extent to which the product contains any natural or synthetic components; 3) the ingredients or composition of a product; and 4) the environmental or health benefits of a product.

April 6, 2016

The FTC is mailing 474 checks totaling more than $33,000 to consumers who lost money to a scheme that charged homeowners an up-front fee for mortgage relief services they promised but never provided. In September 2015, a federal court banned Wealth Educators and Veronica Sesma from the debt collection business.

March 31, 2016

The FTC filed a complaint in federal district court alleging that Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. and several other drug companies violated antitrust laws by using pay-for-delay settlements to block consumers鈥� access to lower-cost generic versions of Opana ER and Lidoderm. Following more than a decade of FTC challenges to pay-for-delay settlements, the enforcement action is the first FTC case challenging an agreement not to market an authorized generic 鈥� often called a 鈥渘o-AG commitment鈥� 鈥� as a form of reverse payment.

March 30, 2016

Sham charities Cancer Fund of America Inc., Cancer Support Services Inc., and their leader, James Reynolds, Sr., agreed to settle charges that they claimed to help cancer patients, but instead, spent the overwhelming majority of donations on their operators, families and friends, and fundraisers. These sham charities, run by Reynolds and his family members, allegedly bilked more than $187 million from donors.

March 29, 2016

The FTC has charged that Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. deceived consumers with the advertising campaign it used to promote its supposedly 鈥渃lean diesel鈥� VWs and Audis, which Volkswagen fitted with illegal emission defeat devices designed to mask high emissions during government tests. The FTC is seeking a court order requiring Volkswagen to compensate American consumers who bought or leased an affected vehicle between late 2008 and late 2015, as well as an injunction to prevent Volkswagen from engaging in this type of conduct again.

March 18, 2016

The FTC is mailing 2,172 partial refund checks totaling nearly $210,000 to consumers who bought Nano-UV 鈥渄isinfectant鈥� devices from a company called Zadro Health Solutions, Inc. The refunds stem from an FTC settlement with over allegations that Zardo鈥檚 ads falsely claimed that their devices 鈥渟afely kill 99.99% of targeted bacteria 鈥� E. Coli, Salmonella and the H1N1 (swine flu) virus in 10 seconds.鈥�

March 15, 2016

National retailer Lord & Taylor has agreed to settle FTC charges that it deceived consumers by paying for native advertisements, including a seemingly objective article in the online publication Nylon and a Nylon Instagram post, without disclosing that the posts actually were paid promotions for the company鈥檚 2015 Design Lab clothing collection.

March 10, 2016

The FTC and the DOJ brought a federal court action against KFJ Marketing, LLC; Sunlight Solar Leads, LLC; Go Green Education; and Francisco J. Salvat to stop a telemarketing operation that allegedly made illegal robocalls promising consumers energy savings, in an effort to generate leads to sell to solar panel installation companies. According to the complaint, defendants Francisco Salvat and his companies placed more than 1.3 million illegal pre-recorded telemarketing calls to consumers with phone numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry. The defendants allegedly claimed to be attempting to help consumers with their energy costs.