A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission and ordered Real Wealth Inc. and its owner, Lance Murkin, to pay $10.4 million, the full amount of harm caused to thousands of consumers nationwide who bought in to the defendants' work-at-home and grant scams.
The defendants were charged with duping thousands of consumers nationwide with a direct-mail campaign that sometimes targeted the elderly and disabled. They deceptively marketed and sold booklets that supposedly explained how to earn money by working from home or applying for government grants, according to the FTC.
The court banned Real Wealth and Murkin from marketing or selling work-at-home or grant-related products, and from assisting others in doing so.
According to the FTC, the defendants lured consumers with deceptive sales pitches, such as “Collect up to $9,250 with my simple 3 minute form” or “All I do is mail 30 postcards everyday and I make an extra $350 a week!” The defendants also claimed that consumers could “rake in up to $1,500+ per week or more in solid cash” by learning “secrets” about the “$700 billion banking industry bailout.”
The court agreed with the FTC that these claims were false or unsubstantiated, in violation of the FTC Act, and it granted the FTC’s motion for summary judgment against the defendants. Few, if any, consumers made substantial income with the defendants’ products.
The FTC filed its complaint against Real Wealth and Murkin as part of the “Operation Bottom Dollar” law enforcement sweep announced in February 2010 that included seven FTC cases against the operators of deceptive and illegal job and money-making scams, as well as dozens of other actions filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general.
