Judge: MCI may have violated court order on certain fees
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NEW YORK A federal judge in Manhattan says MCI may have violated a court order by paying more than 25 (m) million dollars in professional services fees as part of its bankruptcy proceedings in excess of caps on such fees.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. district court has ordered a halt to an operation that allegedly added unauthorized charges to the phone bills of small businesses and nonprofit groups for Web sites services that, in many cases, they didn't know they had and didn't request, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said. Judge Kenneth Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has approved a temporary restraining order halting the activity and freezing the assets of a group of businesses and individuals, the FTC announced Thursday. The FTC's complaint named defendants WebSource Media, BizSitePro, Eversites, Telsource Solutions, Telsource International, Marc R. Smith, Kathleen A. Smalley, Keith Hendrick, Steven Kennedy, John O. Ring, and James E. McCubbin, Jr. The defendants illegally billed thousands of customers, according to the FTC. The operation was a maze of interrelated companies directed by the people named as defendants, the FTC said. The operation used telemarketers to make cold calls to small businesses and nonprofits, and offered a âfreeâ 15-day trial of a Web site design. The customers were told there was no charge or obligation and that the Web site would be cancelled automatically if it was not approved by them. Whether the customers agreed or not to be billed after the trial, their phone bills were often charged. When consumers called to dispute the charges, the operators told them they had âverification recordingsâ of an employee authorizing the charges. The FTC said the operation is typical of fraudulent Web cramming operations -- by using sales pitches to employees who frequently lack authority to make commitments for their employers and failing to effectively notify consumers that a Web site has been set up. The operators repeatedly changed the names of their companies to avoid detection by telephone companies they rely on to bill consumers and to evade scrutiny from law enforcers, the FTC said.
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Negotiation will protect consumers from higher prices, after a firm tries to hike license fees.
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A federal judge yesterday threatened sanctions against MCI Inc. for apparently violating a court order requiring approval of expenditures for lawyers and consultants while it was in bankruptcy protection.
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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering charging American International Group for violating federal securities laws, the insurer said Tuesday.
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The case appears to be focused on whether hospitals are fraudulently overcharging Medicare and other programs for goods.
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Michael Jackson has been told to pay more than $256,000 in legal fees to a firm that handled some side issues during his 2005 child molestation trial.
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MCI Inc., the long-distance provider, said yesterday that it planned to take a $3.5 billion charge in the third quarter to better reflect the loss in value of its phone and data networks.
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A state judge has struck down a Montgomery County law that authorized stiffer penalties against predatory lending practices, saying the measure was beyond the county's authority under the Maryland constitution.
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Credit card company MasterCard drew a rebuke at a closed European Commission antitrust hearing last week after claiming incorrectly that Britain had dropped an investigation into its fees, people who were present said.
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ATHENS, Greece - They were the kind of mistakes only judges see - little touches that seem so inconsequential. But they add up, and they cost the U.S...
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NEW YORK Marsh &amp; McLennan, the insurance brokerage company being sued by the New York State attorney general for taking payments from insurers, has said that it plans to put about $230 million of the fees into an account that may become part of a
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Sprint is canceling some fees it charges to cover its own costs and replacing them with other âregulatoryâ and âadministrativeâ fees. The money goes to Sprint, not the government.
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A New York state judge dismissed most of a lawsuit accusing H&R Block of charging excessive fees on individual retirement accounts.
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Credit card company MasterCard drew a  rebuke at a closed European Commission antitrust hearing last  week after claiming incorrectly that Britain had dropped an  investigation into its fees, people who were present said.
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MCI Inc. (MCIP.O) has offered to pay states from 2 cents to 30 cents on the dollar to settle charges it owes them as much as &#36;2 billion in back taxes, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
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The homeowners who signed these mortgages must be held accountable somehow ("State to refinance troubled mortgages," July 11). Yes, the mortgage companies may have taken advantage, but if the homeowners had hired an attorney or did their homework, there wouldn't be a problem. This is like rewarding stupidity.