14 DAY TRIAL // Derrelle Janey, the former president of a payment processing company called Your Money Access, has settled charges brought against him by the FTC in a case where over $200 million were fraudulently charged from consumers' bank accounts.
In 2007 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) along with the States of Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Vermont, filed a complaint against Janey for his role in an operation that involved rogue telemarketers and Internet scammers stealing money from people.
The FTC alleged that the company and its representatives willingly participated in the deception by allowing fraudsters to charge consumers, often without their knowledge.
"More than $69 million of the attempted debits were returned or rejected by consumers or their banks for various reasons, an indication that in many cases consumers had never authorized the charges.
"In many instances, the merchants either failed to deliver the promised products or services or sent consumers relatively worthless items," the FTC explains in a press release.
According to the settlement, Janey is banned forever from participating in payment processing activities that involve debiting consumer bank accounts and from knowingly assisting individuals who violate the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The former Your Money Access president agreed to pay $15,000 and a $625,000 judgment was stayed due to his current financial condition.
Janey was not the first to settle with the FTC in this case. The payment processor's CEO Tarzanea Dixon was also banned from undergoing activities related to payment processing, because of her role in the scheme.
In December 2008 Wachovia Bank reached a settlement with the Office of the Controller of the Currency, which involved reimbursing telemarketing fraud victims with $150 million.
Your Money Access and two other payment processors responsible for the fraudulent charges held accounts with the bank.