A Florida court issued an injunction against husband-and-wife team Michael J. Gardner and Rebecca A. Dahl Gardener from selling work-at-home business opportunities, chain marketing schemes and Ponzi schemes as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The Gardners operated out of Orlando and Kissimmee, FL.
In agreeing to the ban, the Gardners did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Separately, the state of Florida charged the two with 21 counts of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and communications fraud, according to the FTC. If convicted, they could face 30 years in prison.
The two defendants had a $200,000 suspended judgement levied against them, according to the stipulated final judgement rendered on behalf of the FTC from the Orlando division of the Middle District of Florida, U.S. District Court. They will be liable for the entire amount if they are found to have made material misrepresentations or omissions in their disclosure forms or testimony.
The FTC claimed the couple e-mailed promises of employment to job seekers that had posted their resumes on job Web sites. The Gardners, who operated under a variety of incorporated and unincorporated corporate entities including Home Typist International, Datapros, Professional Data Services, New Age Information Specialists, Quality Publishing Inc. and Creative Tech of America, also bought ads that touted entry-level positions in local newspapers.
The FTC charged that the defendants falsely claimed they would provide employment to consumers that purchased work-at-home opportunities for fees ranging from $59 to $150. The defendants also indicated they would provide specialized software, manuals and training that would enable consumers to earn income by processing orders or medical bills by using a software program that accessed health care provider or bill processor sites on the Internet.
Consumers that sent in money either received nothing, or were sent software that was either incompatible with their computer systems or that could not be opened, according to the FTC. In some cases, the software destroyed existing data. The FTC also alleged that there were no jobs available, and that consumers were not given any bills to process.
In addition, the Gardners are forbidden from selling or releasing information about any of their customers, including names, addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers.
The FTC filed its initial paperwork against the Gardners in June 2002 as part of “Operation Busted Opportunity,” a joint effort between the Commission, the Department of Justice and 17 state law enforcement agencies designed to combat business opportunity and work-at-home fraud.
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