Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: FTC action leads to ban on immigration services scam, (Apr 11, 2014)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

In an action brought by the FTC, a federal district court has banned a Baltimore-based operation from providing immigration services and entered a judgment against them, the Commission announced today. The court ordered the operators to pay as much as $616,000 in refunds to Spanish-speaking immigrants, who were deceived into paying the operation for immigration services that they were not qualified or authorized to provide.

In June 2011, the FTC filed a complaint (FTC v. Loma International Business Group, Inc., File no. 112-3031) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, charging that the defendants’ deceptive conduct violated the FTC Act. The court issued a temporary restraining order followed by a preliminary injunction freezing the defendants’ assets.

In March 2013, the court found Manuel Alban, Lola Alban, and their company, Loma International Business Group, Inc., liable for violating the FTC Act. Targeting Spanish speakers from El Salvador and Honduras, the Albans misled immigrants to believe they were authorized to provide immigration services for a fee, according to the court. Except for attorneys, only authorized providers may accept money in exchange for preparing immigration forms on someone else’s behalf.

The court found that, although the defendants were not authorized providers, they took in an estimated $479,000 to $753,000 from unsuspecting immigrants. The court also noted that according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services data, the agency denied or rejected more than 60 percent of the immigration applications handled by the Albans. Some customers “suffered severely” for relying on the defendants. Several were deported and one was arrested and jailed for almost 11 months, according to the court.

The court order requires Manuel Alban and his wife Lola Alban to pay the refund judgment in installments totaling up to $616,000, depending on the number of victims the FTC is able to locate to receive a refund.

In addition to banning the defendants from providing immigration services, the order prohibits them, their employees, and others representing them from misrepresenting anything about goods or services they are promoting - including that they are qualified or authorized to provide immigration or tax preparation services. It also requires all customer information held by the defendants to be destroyed, and all customer information held by a court-ordered monitor to be turned over to the FTC.

“Misleading people to steal their money and destroy their dreams crosses the line,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC is here to protect people from just these kinds of scams.”

Companies: Loma International Business Group, Inc.

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews