Today the FTC announced, "FTC Puts a Permanent Halt to Illegal Spamming Operations" in a press release about some actions, fines and penalties they just made.
A high-level summary of the judgments:
- Violations of the CAN-SPAM Act and the Adult Labeling Rule will cost Cleverlink Trading Limited $398,000 (Actual judgment was $2,635,000.00; the judgment was suspended except for: (1) $303 000 to be paid to the FTC (2) $95,000 to be deposited by Defendant Muir into an escrow account to facilitate tax payments, but the full amount could be reinforced if all conditions of the judgment are not met) plus a freeze on their corporate assets, plus implementing various types of compliance activities and documentation on an ongoing basis for the next 3 and 6 years to confirm their compliance.
- Violations of CAN-SPAM will cost Zachary Kinion $151,001.64 ("suspended because of his inability to pay," but the full amount could be reinforced if all conditions of the judgment are not met) plus implementing various types of compliance activities and documentation on an ongoing basis for the next 3 and 6 years to confirm their compliance.
- Violations of CAN-SPAM and the Adult Labeling Rule will cost William Dugger, Angelina Johnson, and John Vitale $8,000 (the defendants were liable for $597,166, but it was reduced to the amount in the defendants bank accounts, but the full amount could be reinforced if all conditions of the judgment are not met) plus implementing measures to obtain permissions. They also had a freeze on their corporate assets, plus implementing various types of compliance activities and documentation on an ongoing basis for the next 5 and 8 years to confirm their compliance.
- Violations of CAN-SPAM will cost BM Entertainment and B Pimp $24,193 ("suspended because of his inability to pay," but the full amount could be reinforced if all conditions of the judgment are not met). The owner of the organizations also pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to spam and unauthorized possession of access devices and is awaiting sentencing. He must also implement various types of compliance activities and documentation on an ongoing basis for the next 3 and 6 years to confirm his compliance.
At first glance the suspensions of the fines are disappointing. However, considering the asset freezes and also ongoing monitoring and reporting, with the possibility of having the original fines reinstated, this seems reasonable.
CAN-SPAM actually has had quite a bit of compliance activity since it has been inacted, along with the Adult Labeling Rule.
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