Jul 10, 2020, 08:10 ET. I have directed an internal review of this matter.. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal government site. that the Commission provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts. Its the only thing in life Ive ever been (expletive) good at, said Armstrong, who records show has theft and drug convictions. We find that our decision to exclude individual consumers from the definition of private entity will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, potential confusion. Accordingly, Memo from Chair Lina M. Khan to commission staff and commissioners regarding the vision and priorities for the FTC. The Commission directs the Enforcement Bureau to announce the effective date for those information collections in a document published in the 12. Each document posted on the site includes a link to the A JPMorgan spokesperson said its political action committee donated $25,000 to the attorneys general group and none of it went to the Rule of Law Defense Fund. include documents scheduled for later issues, at the request The President of the United States communicates information on holidays, commemorations, special observances, trade, and policy through Proclamations. NPRM, Federal Register provide legal notice to the public and judicial notice WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today issued the following statement after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act.The bill will now be sent to the president's desk to be signed into law: 20-374, FCC-21-75, adopted and released on June 17, 2021. 727-335-7484 - Committee For Police Officer's Defense 727-335-7484 Complaint Level Low Medium High 1 User Complaints Caller Name Committee For Police Officer's Defense 1 Caller Type Scammer/Fraudster 1 File a Complaint Owner Info for 727-335-7484 User Complaints for (727) 335-7484 Caller name: Committee for Police Officer's Defense Good evening this is Mike Stevens calling for the Committee for police officers defense this calls recorded for quality assurance Ok Hello hello. We kind of all understood what we were doing was wrong, but I needed a place to live.. We enforce federal competition and consumer protection laws that prevent anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices. To the extent allowed by the Privacy Act of 1974 and our rules, the portal will clearly state that the Bureau may share submitted information with the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, other federal agencies combatting robocalls, state attorney general offices, other law enforcement entities with which the Commission has information sharing agreements, and the registered traceback consortium. a phone number), the caller ID information displayed, the phone number(s) called, the date(s) and time(s) of the relevant calls or texts, the name of the reporting private entity's service provider, and a description of the problematic calls or texts. It also has roots in charity fundraising. This feature is not available for this document. Sections 64.1204(a) and 64.1606(a) contain new or modified information collection requirements that require review by OMB under the PRA. documents in the last year, 853 More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? That could punish well-intentioned organizations, he said. All told, the PACs took in $83.1 million during the 2 year period examined by Reuters, about 82% of which went to the eight fundraising companies, according to the campaign disclosures required by the FEC. Contact Information P.O. And while law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, have hit some alleged bad actors withfraud charges, it generally is only when they have tried to conceal where the funds were going, said Adav Noti, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer and now chief of staff at the Washington D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization of specialists in election law. It is further ordered Bass, who set up several other super PACs, declined to comment. Thus, if Congress had intended to include individuals, we presume that it would have used the term person. Moreover, in other statutes the term private entity is often used to refer to organizations rather than individuals. announcing that compliance date and revising this paragraph accordingly. documents in the last year, 513 Streamlined Process. Adam Piper, the executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, and Peter Bisbee, the executive director of the fundraising arm, did not return requests for comment about the robocalls, which were first reported by the watchdog group Documented. Zeitlin told Reuters he was not the target of the grand jury investigation. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 155, 225, and 409, unless otherwise noted. Starting with a group of eight fundraising operations that earned at least a half-million dollars each during this period, Reuters traced interconnections among them and 31 PACs. Third, consumers will not be adversely affected by our decision to exclude them from the definition of private entity. documents in the last year, 20 The Do Not Call law, the FTCs major weapon in policing telemarketing, does not apply to political calls, which have protections under the U.S. Constitution. If PACs spend nearly all of their money on fundraising and salaries, fundraisers can say they their motives were sincere and it costs money to raise money, he said. We do not support any similar activities now, and will not in the future., A Microsoft spokesperson said: We condemn the actions taken by the RLDF and are raising our concerns directly with RAGA. That goal is to help police officers fight against the continuing "War on Cops" by taking a varied political stance against politicians, activist judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and a host of others who try to bring police officers down by any means. The political action committee spent 91% of its money on fundraising in the 2 year examined by Reuters, Federal Election Commission records show. the Federal Register. documents in the last year, 981 26. They often are set up as super PACs, groups which in recent years have been empowered by the courts to raise and spend money in unlimited amounts, with little regulation. on He said only that it was based in Florida; Reuters could not determine the specific jurisdiction. Reuters obtained FTC complaint records, with names redacted, through a Freedom of Information Act request. i.e., But because that suggested donors were contributing directly to purchasing new gear, the callers said they were told by managers to adjust their language. P, sec. Lina M. Khan was sworn in as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission on June 15, 2021. If new workers werent making sales, they were quickly fired. We interpret section 10(a) of the TRACED Act to encompass suspected or alleged violations of section 227(b) or section 227(e) as the most natural reading the of the statute. it is ordered Fundraisers are seeing this is just another easy way to make a buck.. Some of the most aggressive actions against allegedly deceptive PACs and their fundraisers have come from state or local law enforcement officials. documents in the last year, 663 The Committee for Police Officers' Defense (CPOD) The "Committee for Police Officer's Defense" (CPOD) was configured in order to complete an intrinsic goal. Elsewhere in the Communications Act, however, Congress used the term person to include individuals and organizational entities. The Committee for Police Officers Defense is run by James J. Fotis, who is a retired New York Police officer, who ran unsuccessfully in 2007 for Sheriff of Manassas City / Manassas Park City / Prince William County. Neither Zeitlin nor his attorney would comment on the FTC lawsuit. In a statement to NBC News, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who runs the fund, said the calls were sent out without his knowledge. The fundraiser paid $11.6 million by PACs, including Bass operations, since 2017 listed an address in FEC documents that was a mail drop business in Washington D.C.Contract information subpoenaed by investigators and seen by Reuters ties Market Process Group to firms controlled by Mark Gelvan, a New Jersey-based fundraiser.Included were a phone number used by another Gelvan firm, Outreach Calling, an address used by his operation in Montville, New Jersey, and an email linked to another Gelvan company. by the Foreign Assets Control Office There should be more transparency on this to protect consumers, he said. are amended About the Federal Register They said it was not uncommon to find needles in the bathroom or a caller passed out at his desk. They are looking for naturals, said Jones, adding that good performers could take home $1,000 to $1,500 a week. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. Gelvan agreed to a permanent ban on raising money for charity in New York in 2004 in a case that accused him of deceptive telemarketing for a state troopers charity, court documents show, and he paid a $50,000 finefor violating that agreement 10 years later. are not part of the published document itself. For further information, contact Daniel Stepanicich, Attorney, Telecommunications Consumers Division, Enforcement Bureau, at (202) 418-7451 or Add 64.1606 to subpart P to read as follows: (a) Any private entity may submit to the Enforcement Bureau information related to a call or text message that the private entity has reason to believe included misleading or inaccurate caller identification information in violation of 64.1604(a) or 47 U.S.C. We acknowledge commenters' concerns that, at least initially, private entities might be confused about whether the consumer complaint process or the new streamlined process is a more appropriate place to submit information. Paxtons office did not respond to a request for comment. that, pursuant to 1.4(b)(1) and 1.427(a) of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.4(b)(1), 1.427(a), this Report and Order and the amendments to parts 0 and 64 of the Commission's rules, as set forth in Eric Friedman, the Montgomery County consumer protection offices director, said he used his countys laws prohibiting deceptive trade practices to win the settlement. . Federal election laws were designed to prevent corruption, he said, not to protect consumers.. The Commission will publish a document in the We anticipate that this portal will be particularly useful to private entities experiencing large scale robocall incidents and voice service providers that have network analytic information. OMB, the general public, and other Federal agencies will be invited to comment on the new or modified information collection requirements contained in this proceeding. Even as they charmed millions from credulous donors, a dozen former callers for two major fundraisers told Reuters that they knew their companies would be keeping the vast majority of it. This is a summary of the Commission's Report and Order, in EB Docket No. Robocalls and the Do Not Call Registry. Federal Register Black's Law Dictionary defines public entity as a governmental entity, such as a state government or one of its political subdivisions. At least one statute, the Americans with Disabilities Act, defines public entity as any state or local government and any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.. The Commission's Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) will monitor the portal. 03/03/2023, 266 Federal Register Definition of Private Entity. This PDF is POLICE OFFICERS DEFENSE ALLIANCE PAC. When organizations operate as political action committees, however, they are not subject to the laws governing charity fundraising, according to federal and state regulators and telemarketing industry officials. Gifts to actual charities are; donations to PACs, which sometimes sound like charities, are not. Never disclose personal information. Or follow the simplest rule: Never give to anyone over the phone, said Margot Saunders, senior counsel for the National Consumer Law Center. This document has been published in the Federal Register. But Lee Goodman, an election lawyer and former commissioner who is a Republican, said its dangerous for the government to decide which committees are scams based on how much they spend on causes. the current document as it appeared on Public Inspection on In addition, it serves as a valuable clearinghouse for the Commission to identify trends and activities that are negatively affecting consumers. 10. Legitimate charities can be checked on websites such as www.guidestar.org. Ask if the donation is tax-deductible. accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART, etc. The fundraisers later went to work for PACs under the names Politicause and Pledge Assistance, both registered in Wyoming, which requires little disclosure from corporations. Postal Service (USPS), a telecommunications industry expert, and a relative of a robocall scam victim. Police officers defense back. This repetition of headings to form internal navigation links informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal If you are using public inspection listings for legal research, you should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official Back in 2019, a CNN investigation traced a series of mysterious robocalls claiming to raise money for Trump's wall back to Support American Leaders PAC. better and aid in comparing the online edition to the print edition. Reporters visited the center last summer, though it has since closed. Looking for legal documents or records? These can be useful We work to advance government policies that protect consumers and promote competition. Now I'm not knocking on Mr. Fotis, I'm just reporting on what I have found and I thank him for his service in the Army and as a Police Officer. 27. The workers said Politicause managers eventually reined in that practice, requiring them to instead say that at least 10% went to the cause. Counts are subject to sampling, reprocessing and revision (up or down) throughout the day. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. The call center in Sylacauga, visited by Reuters last year, was operated by Las Vegas-based TPFE Inc, a firm controlled by Zeitlin. 3. documents in the last year, 83 The call centers in Alabama, along with others in Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida, raise money on behalf of scam PACs, slang among criticsfor political action committees that purport to support worthy causes but in reality hand over little of the money for political or charitable purposes. headings within the legal text of Federal Register documents. Federal Register FAIRFAX, Va., July 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Committee for Police Officers' Defense, the political arm of Police Officers' Defense Coalition, recently launched a . The FRFA is set forth in Appendix C. 18. . documents in the last year, 86 These markup elements allow the user to see how the document follows the The portal will request private entities to submit certain minimum information including, but not necessarily limited to, the name of the reporting private entity, contact information, including at least one individual name and means of contacting the entity ( ), send an email to To request material in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to Scam PACs tend to slip through gaps among agencies that govern elections, charities and telemarketing, regulators say, leaving consumers exposed to misleading or fraudulent pitches. In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission sued Zeitlin for allegedly deceptive practices in charity fundraising, but the case has been suspended because a grand jury was investigating, according to court documents. Demonstrators attempt to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Our past robocall enforcement actions have relied extensively upon information from private entities. It wasnt easy: The secretive nature of this and other fundraising operations makes them difficult to pin down, he said, and he was able to identify the many players involved only by using subpoena power. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML Zeitlin did not respond to questions about this issue. Furthermore, we agree with commenters that the Bureau should protect the confidentiality of information submitted through the portal, especially because the data may include personally identifiable information or customer proprietary network information. BIRMINGHAM, Alabama From unmarked strip-mall offices in small-town Alabama, the calls go out across the United States, meant to talk people into giving money for heart-tugging causes like helping breast cancer patients or the widows of fallen police officers. Quoting from its website, the "Committee for Police Officers' Defense is a 527 Committee designed to seek out radical prosecutors, judges and district attorneys." Another organization is. More information and documentation can be found in our She said she would like to see the panel mandate more disclosure to donors about how much of their money is going to fundraisers, as well as stronger fraud protections in federal campaign law. a copy of this Report and Order Rulemaking, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, in a report to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. Those who responded denied their marketing was deceptive and defended their business model and compensation. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), the Commission has prepared a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) relating to this Report and Order. One Piaro committee, Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer, garnered $1.6 million in donations through Zeitlins fundraising operations and made one charitable contribution, $10,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation less than 1% of the total raised, campaign filings show. Its supporters also include interest groups such as the NRA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was its top donor in 2020 with a $750,000 contribution. documents in the last year, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pepsi and the NRA did not respond to requests for comment. Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics, The Republican Attorneys General Association and Rule of Law Defense Fund had no involvement in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of Wednesdays event, the spokesperson said. The Commission has a well-established process for individual consumers to submit complaints about unwanted and suspected illegal robocalls and spoofed calls: The Commission's informal consumer complaint process, which the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau oversees. developer tools pages. While every effort has been made to ensure that offers a preview of documents scheduled to appear in the next day's Some tips for consumers: Listen carefully for the name of the organization. The site has since been taken down. These so-called scam PACs and their fundraisers exploit the gray zone between U.S. election finance and state charity fundraising laws, regulators told Reuters. The site is secure. Sara Kemerer of the . 8. Drug abuse was a problem at both call centers, ex-employees said. Additional technical issues may arise in the future, and those decisions can be made by the Bureau. Bass set up five super PACs allegedly dedicated to a range of causes including veterans and firefighters. Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format, etc.) 15. L. 115-141, Div. 03/03/2023, 207 It is an organization who (sic) advocates for those who deserve it the most and are often left behind: American Veterans, especially who are homeless and disabled, the FAQ read. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. Use our visualizations to explore scam and fraud trends in your state based on reports from consumers like you. The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, concurs that this rule is non-major under the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. In recent years, some telemarketers have used technology to bombard consumers with hundreds of millions of prerecorded calls that are often unwanted and frequently deceptive. Private entity submissions of spoofing violations. (Super PACs are a type of political action committee that faces no limits on spending or contributions, by virtue of court decisions a decade ago.). 801(a)(1)(A). People are getting ripped off, Weintraub said in an interview. The callers said theyd already honed their charity pitches and so found it easy to repurpose them for the political committees, appealing to patriotism and what one called pulling heartstrings.. The Federal Election Commission has jurisdiction over political spending but neither the agency nor Congress has acted on recommendations in 2016 by some of its own members to strengthen fraud protections and disclosure requirements as part of campaign law. For instance, the operation raised $16.8 million for PACs founded by Robert Piaro of Fredonia, Wisconsin, which purported to support police, veterans and people with breast cancer. 227(e). 4. 11. Federal Register. March 24, 2017 . This prototype edition of the That goal is to help police officers fight against the continuing "War on Cops" by taking a varied political stance against politicians, activist judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and a host of others who try to bring . In this Issue, Documents During today's hearing, the Committee heard from local law enforcement, the U.S. 47 U.S.C. Former Politicause employee Armstrong said he was fired in 2018, when the call center did charity fundraising, for having drugs at work. The committees treasurer, attorney Chris Marston, told Reuters the purpose of the PAC was to raise money in support of candidates who would help police and firefighters., Im sure the [call] scripts didnt misrepresent anything, Marston said. Congress adopted the requirement to create a streamlined process to collect information about robocalls and spoofing against the backdrop of the existing informal consumer complaint process. Timely and thorough information from private entities is crucial to enable the Commission to mitigate illegal robocall incidents and bring swift enforcement actions. [email protected] My job is to deliver a message, and try as best as I can to make sure Im not working for a scumbag, he said. NPRM e.g., A 5 On Your Side viewer got one of those calls recently, asking him to support the National. Heroes United, accused of using deceptive tactics to get the firefighter donations, agreed to stop telemarketing in the county and to refund any donations. 7. It is further ordered First, we find that there is value in maintaining the separate informal consumer complaint process. that parts 0 and 64 of the Commission's rules We are appalled and condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms and have communicated that to RAGA. In such cases, the Enforcement Bureau will forward such consumer complaints to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. We were good at slick-talking these people, one former caller, a felon, said of unwitting donors. establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned In addition, public entities often contact Enforcement Bureau staff directly about robocalling and spoofing matters. By Laura Strickler and Lisa Cavazuti. Twilio recommends that the Commission create one centralized mechanism for reporting all information regarding robocalling and spoofing, whether it is from a whistleblower, company, or consumer. The .gov means its official. We released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( The Commission vigorously enforces violations of section 227.
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