Full Tilt Poker Assists FTC in its Investigation of Large-scale Fraud Scheme

Legal Action against I Works and others involved in the scam This week's online media report that Full Tilt Poker has assisted the US Federal Trade Commission in its investigation of a multi-million scam scheme which was the subject of the late December issue of eCommerce Journal, and according to which the legal action has been initiated against the suspects. It has been reported that one of the major online poker companies, Full Tilt Poker, joined the FTC action as the main suspect Jeremy Johnson from Utah allegedly used the operator's internet site to gamble away some of the money obtained by questionable means. According to reports, FTC issued warnings designed to preserve the assets in question, however there are reasons to believe that funds were spent by Johnson. The entire case has been assessed as the "...nationwide scam scheme that defrauds millions of Americans under guise of governmental help" in the original leaks. It has been also revealed that a lawsuit has been filed by the US Federal Trade Commission with the US District for Nevada. The FTC filed a litigation demanding a ban of the widespread Internet-based enterprise which offered customers trial memberships for fake government grants and money-making schemes, and then continually charged them monthly fees for memberships they never ordered, thus reportedly netting around $275 million. The defendants are charged with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that government grants are available for paying personal expenses, that consumers are likely to obtain grants by using the defendants' program, that users of their money-making products will earn substantial income and that their offers are free or risk free. Commenting on the FTC efforts to halt the operation and ensure the refund of the unauthorized client fees, the Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said: "No consumer should be sucker-punched into making payments for products they don't know about and don't want". According to the FTC, Johnson is charged as the suspected owner of I Works in Utah, along with nine other defendants, nine additional companies and 51 shell companies.