Feb 18, 2020 | Shareholder & Investor Protection
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making investors aware that on February 18, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an emergency enforcement action and a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Florida-based private real estate firm EquiAlt LLC, its CEO Brian Davison (“Davison”), and its Managing Director Barry Rybicki (“Rybicki”), in connection with an allegedly fraudulent unregistered securities offering that raised more than $170 million from at least 1,100 investors, a number of whom invested their retirement funds.
According to the SEC’s complaint, unsealed on Feb. 14, 2020 in United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, EquiAlt, Davison, Rybicki, and the entities they control, fraudulently raised millions of dollars by making material misrepresentations to investors about EquiAlt’s investment strategy, the financial condition of the investments, and the uses of investor proceeds. The defendants allegedly told investors they would pool investor funds and use approximately 90% of the money to purchase undervalued real estate, rent or flip the properties, and pay investors 8-10% annual interest generated from the real estate investments. In reality, the complaint alleges, a large portion of investor money went to support Davison’s and Rybicki’s lavish personal spending, and less than 50% of the funds raised were used to invest in properties. Additionally, money from one investment fund controlled by EquiAlt, allegedly, was used to make Ponzi-like payments to investors in another fund.
On Feb. 14, 2020, a federal judge granted the SEC’s request for emergency relief, including a temporary restraining order, an asset freeze, an order against the destruction of documents, and an accounting against EquiAlt, Davison, Rybicki and a number of companies charged by the SEC as relief defendants. The court also granted the SEC’s request to appoint a receiver over the corporate defendants and the relief defendants. The SEC’s complaint charges EquiAlt, Davison, and Rybicki with violations of the antifraud and securities registration provisions and aiding and abetting violations of the broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC seeks disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains, and financial penalties against the defendants.
Source: Sec.gov
Feb 18, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware of the following Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) class action lawsuit filing:
Class action lawsuit filed on December 19, 2019 in United States District Court for the District of Kansas against Fresh Farms, LLC for, allegedly, “negligently, knowingly, and/or willfully plac[ing] unsolicited automated text messages to Plaintiff’s and the putative class members’ cellular phone in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.”
According to the class action complaint, Plaintiff received the following automated text message from Fresh Farms from telephone number (844) 203-5254:
Fresh Farms: Winter Fruit almost sold out! Please reserve at https://freshfarmsusa.com/shop/Fresh Meat(Bacon, Chicken, Beff)& Fruit coming in December!
Plaintiff, according to the complaint, did not give Fresh Farms “prior express written consent to send text messages to her cellular telephone number by using an automatic telephone dialing system,” and “[t]he text message Fresh Farms sent to Plaintiff and the putative class members consisted of pre-written templates of impersonal text, and were identical to text messages [Fresh Farms] sent to other consumers.”
Do You Believe You Are a Victim of Illegal Robocalls, Text Messages, “Junk” Faxes or Telemarketing Sales Calls?
If you have received illegal robocalls, text messages, “junk” faxes or telemarketing sales calls, you may be able to recover at least $500 for each illegal call, text or fax you received and, possibly, as much as $1,500 for each illegal call, text message or facsimile that was made either willfully or knowingly in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
To help evaluate your potential legal claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, please complete KLF’s confidential Robocall Questionnaire or, if you prefer to speak with an attorney, please complete the form above on the right, e-mail [email protected] or contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your potential legal rights.
Feb 17, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Rutter’s Provides “Notice of Payment Card Incident” – Possible Unauthorized Access to Data From Payment Cards Used at Some Rutter’s Locations
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware that in a February 13, 2020 “Notice of Payment Card Incident,” Rutter’s notified its customers about “an incident involving payment cards that were used at some of [its] locations.” According to the payment card incident notice published by Rutter’s:
Rutter’s recently received a report from a third party suggesting there may have been unauthorized access to data from payment cards that were used at some Rutter’s locations. [Rutter’s] launched an investigation, and cybersecurity firms were engaged to assist. [Rutter’s] also notified law enforcement.
On January 14, 2020, the investigation identified evidence indicating that an unauthorized actor may have accessed payment card data from cards used on point-of-sale (POS) devices at some fuel pumps and inside some of [Rutter’s] convenience stores through malware installed on the payment processing systems. The malware searched for track data (which sometimes has the cardholder name in addition to card number, expiration date, and internal verification code) read from a payment card as it was being routed through the payment processing systems. However, chip-enabled (EMV) POS terminals are used inside [Rutter’s] convenience stores. EMV cards generate a unique code that is validated for each transaction, and the code cannot be reused. As a result, for EMV cards inserted into the chip-reader on the EMV POS devices in our convenience stores, only card number and expiration date (and not the cardholder name or internal verification code) were involved. In addition, it appears that the malware did not copy data from all of the payment cards used during the period that it was present on a given payment processing system. There is no indication that other customer information was accessed. Please note this incident is not the result of a handheld “skimmer” being placed on a Rutter’s fuel pump.
The specific timeframes when data from cards used at the locations involved may have been accessed vary by location over the general timeframe beginning October 1, 2018 through May 29, 2019. There is one location where access to card data may have started August 30, 2018 and nine additional locations where access to card data may have started as early as September 20, 2018. A list of the locations involved and specific timeframes is available here. For those customers Rutter’s can identify as having used their card at a location involved during that location’s specific timeframe and for whom Rutter’s has a mailing address or email address, Rutter’s will be mailing them a letter or sending them an email.
Payment card transactions at Rutter’s car washes, ATM’s, and lottery machines in Rutter’s stores were not involved.
Have You Been Impacted by A Data Breach?
If so, please either contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. Partner Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected], complete the form on the right or send an e-mail to [email protected] for a free, no-obligation case evaluation of your facts to determine whether your privacy rights have been violated and whether there is a basis for a data privacy class action.
Examples of the type of relief sought by data privacy class actions, include, but are not limited to, reimbursement of identity theft losses and of out-of-pocket costs paid by data breach victims for protective measures such as credit monitoring services, credit reports, and credit freezes; compensation for time spent responding to the breach; imposition of credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance, paid for by the defendant company; and improvements to the defendant company’s data security systems.
Data privacy class actions are brought on a contingent-fee basis; thus, plaintiffs and the class members do not pay out-of-pocket attorney’s fees or litigation costs. Subject to court approval, attorney’s fees and litigation costs are derived from the recovery obtained for the class.
Feb 17, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware of the following Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) class action lawsuit filing:
Eldercare Insurance Services Inc.; Integrity Marketing Group LLC
Class action lawsuit filed on February 17, 2020 in United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against Eldercare Insurance Services Inc. and Integrity Marketing Group LLC “to stop both of the Defendants from violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by making unsolicited calls to consumers, including to consumers registered on the National Do Not Call registry . . . and to obtain monetary relief for all persons injured by Defendants’ conduct.”
According to the class action complaint, “[a]s a result of the tools provided by Eldercare [Insurance Services] at [Integrity Marketing Group’s] direction, senior consumers such as Plaintiff are receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls, despite having their phone numbers registered on the [National Do Not Call registry].”
Examples of online consumer complaints in the class action complaint regarding unsolicited telemarketing calls, allegedly, made by agents of Eldercare Insurance Services are as follows (citations omitted):
• “My number is on the no call list. why am I getting these calls about medicare supplements?”[]
• “Today the caller identified herself as an agent with Eldercare. They are going to hold a meeting in my county to show everyone how to save money on Medicare supplements. The telephone number 501-781-0190 appeared in caller ID but without a name.”[]
• “Health Insurance for Medicare recipients. Very pushy, would not provide any info by any means other than having a sales rep come to my house to explain their options. I said a very firm no to sales rep visit to my home, at which point the person became even angrier. I requested my number be removed from their data base.”[]
• “ID Hot Springs. Call from Rhonda at Elder Care to Medicare recipients. Called twice within 3 hours. Told me she had not called prior, must have been someone else. Wouldn’t answer questions about where she got my number. Told her not to call again and remove my name from her call list. Whatever happened to Do Not Call??”[]
• “Have received two calls from this number in one week asking questions about Medicare. Hung up both times.”[]
• “telemarketing for medicare”[]
• “Robocall”[]
• “Medicare telemarketing”[]
• “I have received calls from this number every day, morning noon and night how can I stop it. SO VERY ANNOYED”[]
According to the complaint, the Plaintiff’s telephone number was registered on the National Do Not Call registry “to avoid receiving unwanted calls,” and “was not looking to purchase any supplementary Medicare insurance, such as the products/services offered by Eldercare.” The Plaintiff, however, allegedly received unsolicited telephone calls from a telephone number associated with Eldercare Insurance Services, (800) 999-7340, despite not having the “Plaintiff’s prior express written consent to place solicitation telephone calls to her on her landline telephone number.”
Do You Believe You Are a Victim of Illegal Robocalls, Text Messages, “Junk” Faxes or Telemarketing Sales Calls?
If you have received illegal robocalls, text messages, “junk” faxes or telemarketing sales calls, you may be able to recover at least $500 for each illegal call, text or fax you received and, possibly, as much as $1,500 for each illegal call, text message or facsimile that was made either willfully or knowingly in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
To help evaluate your potential legal claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, please complete KLF’s confidential Robocall Questionnaire or, if you prefer to speak with an attorney, please complete the form above on the right, e-mail [email protected] or contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your potential legal rights.
Feb 17, 2020 | Consumer Protection, Employment & Technology Archive
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is making consumers aware of the following Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) class action lawsuit filings:
Makes Cents Capital LLC
Class action lawsuit filed on February 14, 2020 in United States District Court, Central District of California, against Makes Cents Capital LLC and other defendants, as of yet unknown, for, allegedly, “negligently, knowingly, and/or willfully contacting Plaintiff on Plaintiff’s cellular telephone in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act . . . and related regulations, specifically the National Do-Not-Call provisions, thereby invading Plaintiff’s privacy.” According to the complaint, Makes Cents Capital, “a business finance company,” “contacted Plaintiff on Plaintiff’s cellular telephone . . . in an attempt to solicit Plaintiff to purchase [Makes Cents Capital’s] services.” Allegedly, Makes Cents Capital did not have the Plaintiff’s “prior express consent” to make calls to Plaintiff “using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice on [Plaintiff’s] cellular telephone.”
Aziz Abdelaziz Group Corp.
Class action lawsuit filed on February 14, 2020 in United States Distrcit Court, Central District of California, against “licensed real estate broker” Aziz Abdelaziz Group Corp. and other defendants, as of yet unknown, for, allegedly, “negligently, knowingly, and/or willfully contacting Plaintiff on Plaintiff’s home and cellular telephones in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act . . . and related regulations, specifically the National Do-Not-Call provisions, thereby invading Plaintiff’s privacy.” According to the class action complaint, Aziz Abdelaziz Group “contacted or attempted to contact Plaintiff on Plaintiff’s home and cell phone numbers from telephone number (954) 652-9258,” in an effort “to solicit Plaintiff to purchase [Aziz Abdelaziz Group’s] services.” The complaint states that the “Plaintiff did not have an established business relationship with [Aziz Abdelaziz Group] during the time of the solicitation calls from Defendant.” Additionally, according to the class action complaint, “Plaintiff expressly asked Defendant multiple times to be removed from Defendant’s call list,” and “Plaintiff did not give [Aziz Abdelaziz Group] prior express written consent for Defendant to call Plaintiff’s home or cellular telephone for marketing or solicitations purposes.”
Do You Believe You Are a Victim of Illegal Robocalls, Text Messages, “Junk” Faxes or Telemarketing Sales Calls?
If you have received illegal robocalls, text messages, “junk” faxes or telemarketing sales calls, you may be able to recover at least $500 for each illegal call, text or fax you received and, possibly, as much as $1,500 for each illegal call, text message or facsimile that was made either willfully or knowingly in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
To help evaluate your potential legal claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, please complete KLF’s confidential Robocall Questionnaire or, if you prefer to speak with an attorney, please complete the form above on the right, e-mail [email protected] or contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your potential legal rights.
