COURT ORDERS WORK-AT-HOME COMPANY, PRESIDENT TO PAY $25 MILLION JUDGEMENT

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Federal Court Enters Order and $25 Million Judgment Against Los Angeles Area Work-at-Home Scheme

An order of permanent injunction against The Zaken Corp. of Thousand Oaks, California, and company president Tiran Zaken, of Calabasas, California, was entered today by U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson, finding that they made false and misleading statements in marketing work-at-home business opportunities and promising commissions to consumers, the Justice Department announced.  In a written opinion entered Sept. 18, the court found that 110,000 consumers had bought the defendants’ program and “more than 99.8 percent never earned any commission whatsoever.”  The court ordered the defendants to pay $25,406,781 as redress for consumer injury.

“This order reflects the Department of Justice’s commitment to protecting consumers from fraud schemes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Those who take advantage of Americans searching for an honest day’s work, depriving them of their savings, will be held accountable.”

The Zaken Corp. sold consumers a “Wealth Building Home Business Plan” called QuikSell.  For an initial investment of $148, consumers became Associates of QuikSell Liquidations and received a manual including instructions on how to locate excess inventory.  The defendants represented that once purchasers of the opportunity identified businesses interested in selling excess inventory, The Zaken Corp. would find a buyer for the inventory.  If The Zaken Corp. succeeded in negotiating a sale of the inventory, it promised to give the associate a “commission” equal to half the profit on the sale.

The Zaken Corp. and Tiran Zaken lured customers with claims that purchasers of their program could expect that “two to four hours a week working this business will earn participants an average of $3,000 to $6,000.”  They further claimed that “the average commission checks associates get … will be approximately $4,280!”  In the court’s written decision, Judge Pregerson of the Central District of California found that “fewer than one percent of consumers ever earned any income at all.”

Once consumers purchased the QuikSell program, they were inundated with advertisements to purchase additional business “tools” costing hundreds or thousands of dollars.  The court found that consumers were encouraged to spend an additional $2,300 if they were “serious about this business and … really wanted to make the kind of money others have made.”  However, after making this additional investment, consumers received only a directory consisting of “largely outdated telephone numbers of companies who were out of business.”

The court found that The Zaken Corp. and Tiran Zaken violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by making false claims regarding the earnings potential of QuikSell.  The court also found that The Zaken Corp. and Tiran Zaken violated the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s Business Opportunity Rule, which requires sellers of business opportunities to provide specific, truthful information to help consumers evaluate a business opportunity prior to purchase.  The FTC promulgated an updated Business Opportunity Rule in 2012, in order to protect consumers from exactly this sort of work-at-home scheme, in which sellers lure victims with false representations of substantial earnings.

Pursuant to the injunction issued by the court, The Zaken Corp. and Tiran Zaken are permanently banned from advertising or selling any work-at-home opportunity or business opportunity.

This case was brought by the Department of Justice as part of “Operation Lost Opportunity,” a sweep of business opportunity fraud cases coordinated by the FTC.  Trial Attorneys Ann Entwistle and Lisa Hsiaoof of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch litigated this case with support from Dana Barragate of the FTC’s East Central Region, the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anoiel Korshid in the Central District of California.

DEFENDANTS SETTLE CHARGES IN "WORK-AT-HOME" OPPORTUNITY SCAM

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
Defendants Behind ‘Online Entrepreneur’ Work-at-Home Scheme Settle FTC Charges

The operators of a business opportunity scheme have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they defrauded consumers through the sale of a work-at-home program that purportedly provided consumers with their own websites that would enable them to earn a significant income by affiliate marketing with websites of well-known companies such as Prada, Sony, Louis Vuitton, and Verizon.

The settlement is part of a federal-state crackdown on scams that falsely promise jobs and opportunities to “be your own boss” to people who are unemployed or underemployed. Under the settlement, the defendants behind the operation, The Online Entrepreneur, will be banned from selling business and work-at-home opportunities.

According to an FTC complaint filed in November 2012, the defendants sold the “Six Figure Program” to consumers as a purportedly no-risk, money-back guaranteed opportunity to make money via their own website, falsely claiming that, for a $27 fee, they would enable consumers to affiliate with well-known companies’ websites and earn commissions. After purchasing the program, consumers learned that they had to pay $100 or more in additional costs just to set up their websites. The court subsequently halted the allegedly deceptive practices, froze the defendants’ assets, and put the companies into receivership pending a court hearing.

The settlement order announced today permanently prohibits The Online Entrepreneur Inc., Ben and Dave’s Consulting Associates, Inc., and David Clabeaux from selling business and work-at-home opportunities, misrepresenting that consumers are likely to earn money and misrepresenting any material fact about a product or service. They also are barred from failing to clearly disclose the terms of any offer before consumers provide billing information, and making a representation unless it is true and the defendants have competent and reliable evidence to substantiate the claim. In addition, the order prohibits these defendants from selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers’ personal information, and failing to properly dispose of customer information.

The order imposes a judgment of more than $2.9 million, which will be suspended when Clabeaux has surrendered real estate, personal property, and bank and investment accounts. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition. Litigation continues against the remaining defendant, Benjamin Moskel.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the proposed consent judgment was 4-0. The consent judgment was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on March 13, 2014.

NOTE:  Consent judgments have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.