On Wednesday, May 31, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) secured default judgments against an individual responsible for hundreds of millions of illegal “robocalls” and nine companies he controlled, resulting in a judgment assessing a $2.7 million penalty and barring all from future telemarketing.
In the case, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Judge David O. Carter granted the FTC’s request for a default judgment assessing a monetary penalty against robocalling ringleader Aaron Michael Jones and entering a permanent injunction against Jones and his companies, including Allorey Inc., Audacity LLC, and Data World Technologies Inc. The FTC contended that Jones’s companies made millions of automated calls to customers attempting to sell automobile warranties, home security systems, and other products, or to generate leads for companies selling those products.
The injunction prohibits the defendants from (i) making any further robocalls, (ii) calling numbers on the national Do-Not-Call Registry, and (iii) selling consumers’ phone numbers or other information. The court assessed the $2.7 million penalty against Jones individually, and it must be paid to the FTC. Though sizeable, Judge Carter noted in a May 25, 2017 order that the FTC could have recovered up to $16,000 per violation under Section 5(m)(1)(A) of the FTC Act, instead securing a total penalty that averages out to less than $3 per violation.
The FTC initially filed suit in January 2017 against nine individuals and 10 corporate entities operating enterprises allegedly controlled by Jones. The FTC claimed that the defendants called numbers on the Do-Not-Call Registry at a rate of over 100 million per year from 2009 to 2016. Seven of the nine individuals and one entity settled at the time the complaint was filed. The other remaining individual defendant stipulated on May 17, 2017 to a final judgment with similar terms to Jones’s default judgment.
Jones did not participate in any of the proceedings leading up to the May 31, 2017 default judgments against him and his nine companies. These judgments fully resolve the FTC’s January actions against all defendants in the case, according to a statement released by the agency.
