On May 16, California Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference, supporting California Senate Bill 478 (SB 478) to prohibit “junk fees” or hidden fees that a seller may add on top of an advertised price. The bill is currently pending before the California Senate Appropriations Committee.
On May 23, 49 state attorneys general sued Avid Telecom, its owner, and vice president for allegedly facilitating billions of robocalls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The AGs requested civil penalties and to temporarily and permanently enjoin Avid from transmitting robocalls. This suit comes after group co-leader North Carolina AG Josh Stein formed a nationwide anti-robocall task force that investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for routing significant volumes of illegal robocall traffic.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced that he reached a $150,000 settlement with Rockingham health care provider Compassionate Counseling Services (Compassionate) for allegedly submitting false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program from June 7, 2016 to January 8, 2021.
Pennsylvania AG Michelle Henry announced a settlement with New York-based Fluent LLC and its subsidiaries over allegations that they engaged in deceptive and misleading business practices by placing millions of unwanted telemarketing calls to Pennsylvania residents.
On May 19, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes announced a consumer settlement with Response Marketing Group LLC and its principals for $15 million and a lifetime ban against selling money-making products and training services nationwide. The settlement — the largest ever for the Utah AG’s consumer protection division — concluded a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Utah AG’s office (representing the Utah Department of Commerce – Division of Consumer Protection (DCP)), alleging violations of the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and several Utah statutes. Two Response Marketing celebrity endorsers also agreed to pay $1.7 million in redress cumulatively.
On May 17, District of Colombia Attorney General Brian Schwalb announced the settlement of an investigation into Easy Healthcare Corporation, requiring the company to change its privacy practices involving the ovulation tracking app “Premom” to protect the sensitive reproductive data of consumers. Easy Health agreed to several remedial measures intended to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information to third parties and to pay a $100,000 penalty to the states involved with the investigation.
The Virginia ABC will assess a regulatory scheme for liquid nicotine, with the consultation of stakeholders, and issue a report and recommendations.
On May 8, 12 states led by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), opposing its recently proposed rule to give the commission the authority to regulate non-securities, including cryptocurrencies.
On May 11, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, along with two convenience stores and the American Petroleum and Convenience Store Association, sued the California attorney general and district attorney for Fresno County in their official capacities, seeking declaratory relief that these California officials misinterpreted and misapplied California’s ban on flavored tobacco products and incorrectly concluded that RJ Reynolds’ new products violate this ban.
Financial services companies are using AI to assist with many business processes, including underwriting decisions, consumer credit approval, servicing and collections, loss mitigation programs, customer interaction on websites and mobile apps via chatbots, and in detecting fraud. In this fourth episode, Stephen Piepgrass and colleagues Chris Willis and Michael Yaghi examine the use and impact of AI in the financial services industry. They discuss the potential risks financial services companies may face with increased reliance on AI, as well as the increased focus on AI by various regulators and state attorneys general.