Department without an admission of wrongdoing and for the purposk of resolving this matter

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Department without an admission of wrongdoing and for the purposk of resolving this matter"

Allen Derrick Leonard
5 years ago
Views:

1 STATE OF FLORDA OFFCE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERA DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFARS n the Matter of: UNTED RESORT MARKETNG, NC., a Florda corporaton, SKY BLUE SOLUTONS, N CORPORA TED, a Florda corporaton, and ADAM J. MACKER, an ndvdual AG Case Number: 1 Ll Respondents ASSURANCE OF VOLUNTARY COMPLANCE PURSUANT TO Chapter 501, Part, "The Florda Dec tve and Unfar Trade Practces Act", Florda Statutes (2011), the STATE OF FLOR pa, OFFCE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFARS (h~reafter the "Department") has nvestgated certan acts and practces of UNTED RESORT MtRKETNG, NC., SKY BLUE SOLUTONS, NCORPORATED, and ADAM J. MAtKER (collectvely, the "Respondents"). Respondents enter nto ths Assurance of Voluntary Complance (the "AVC") wth the Department wthout an admsson of wrongdong and for the purposk of resolvng ths matter only. Pursuant to Secton (6), Florda Statutes (201 0), the DeJartment accepts ths A VC n termnaton of ts nvestgaton nto certan acts and practces of R~spondents related to ther tmeshare resale and rental busness. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 Respondents, Unted Resort Marketng, nc. ("Unted"), and Sky Blue Solutons, ncorporated ("Sky Blue"), are both Florda corporatons wth ther prncpal places of busness

2 located n Orange Cty, Volusa County, Florda. Respondent, Adam J. Macker ("Macker"), s the presdent of both Unted and Sky Blue, and partcpated n, contro led, and had the authorty to control the acts and practces of Respondents, Unted and Blue Sky. 1.2 Respondents engaged n the busness of tmeshare resale and rental servces. Respondents marketed, promoted and sold ts servces to consume:rs throughout the Unted States. The Department began ts nvestgaton of Respondents based o~ consumer complants. 1.3 The Department alleges that Respondents' sales repres~ntatves made unsolcted telemarketng calls to consumers to market, promote and sell the thneshare resale and rental servces. n some of the telemarketng calls to consumers, the stes representatves made representatons, expressly or by mplcaton, that Respondents had reay buyers or renters for the consumers' tmeshares, or that the tmes hares could be sold or rented wthn a specfed perod of tme. 1.4 Respondents, Unted and Sky Blue, sent agreemen s for consumers to sgn authorzng a credt card charge and statng that Respondents were smply advertsng and promotng the consumer's tmeshare for resale or rental, and dsclamed havng a ready buyer or a specfc tme perod to sell or rent the tmeshare. Moreover, the ajeements provded that the "advertsng fee" was non-refundable Respondent, Unted, regstered wth the Dvson o{ Consumer Servces (the "Dvson") of the Florda Department of Agrculture and Consumer rervces n May 2008 as a commercal telephone seller under lcense number TC3200. Unted l1ense expred n May Respondent, Sky Blue, regstered as a commercal telephone seller wth the Dvson n January 2010 under lcense number TC3587 (the "Lcense"). Sky Blue's cense expred n January 2

3 As a result of the Department's nvestgaton, Unted d Sky Blue have ceased operatons and are no longer marketng, promotng or sellng ther meshare resale or rental servces to consumers. 2. JURSDCTON AND VEN~E 2.1 The partes agree that the State of Florda has jursdcton over Respondents for the purposes of enterng nto ths A VC and any enforcement actons arsng out of ths A VC. 2.2 t s further agreed by the partes that venue for any ~atter relatng to or arsng out of ths AVC shall le solely n Orange County, Florda. 3. COMPLANCE TERMS 3.1 Respondents shall not volate any applcable law,j rule, and/or regulaton, ncludng, but not lmted to, the followng: (a) The Florda Deceptve and Unfar Trade Pradtces Act as contaned n Chapter 501, Part, Florda Statutes (2011); (b) The Florda Telemarketng Act as contaned n Chapter 501, Part V, Florda Statutes (20 11 ); (c) (d) (e) Secton , Florda Statutes (2011), Telep,one Solctaton; Secton , Florda Statutes (2011 ), Mslea+ng Advertsng; The Telemarketng and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Preventon Act as contaned n 15 U.S.C. Sectons (2011) (the "Act') and rules mplementng the Act as contaned n the "Telemarketng Sales Rule", Ttle C.F.R, Part 310 (2011); (f) All Federal Trade Commsson rules and regulatons regardng or relatng 3

4 to advertsng. j' 3.2. Respondents shall not engage n, drectly or ndrect, any tmeshare resale or rental busness, or the marketng, promoton or sale of any tmeshare rrsale or rental servces, or provde any consultng or other servces to any persons or companes ~ngaged n the marketng, promoton or sale of any tmeshare resale or rental servces. 3.3 n connecton wth the Department's future mo1torng of Respondents, Respondents agree to retan documents and other nformaton reasom~bly suffcent to establsh complance wth the provsons of ths A VC, and shall provde the De,artment reasonable access to such documents and nformaton upon wrtten request from Departtnent wthout further legal process. 3.4 Respondents shall mmedately dsable and remove anj webstes or other nternet advertsng that was used n connecton wth ther tmeshare resale and rental busnesses. 4. MONETARY TERMS 4.1 Upon executon of ths A VC, Respondents shall pay tf the Department the total sum Ffteen Thousand and No/100 ($15,000.00) for nvestgatve ~osts, attorneys' fees and future montorng. Payment shall be made by certfed or cashe~'s check payable to the Department of Legal Affars Revolvng Trust Fund and shall be s+t to Robert G. Clements, Assstant Attorney General, 135 West Central Blvd, Sute 1000, Orlando, FL n the event that Respondents fal to tmely pay,y of the above amounts, Respondents shall be n default of ths A VC and Respondents hereby ~tpulates to entry of a fnal judgment aganst them, jontly and severally, for the amounts due. Respondents stpulate that evdence of the falure to pay n accordance the terms and condtons of ths A VC may be n the 4

5 form of an affdavt from the Department. 4.3 Respondents acknowledge and agree that any falure to tmply wth the terms and condtons of ths A VC s by statute prma faca evdence of a volaton of Chapter 501, Part, Florda Statutes (2010), and may subject Respondents to any and all crl penaltes and sanctons provded by law, ncludng awardng of attorneys' fees and costs. 5. EFFECTVE UPON ACCEPTANCf 5.1 The Department's Drector of Economc Crmes may refuse to accept ths A VC at hs dscreton, and the AVC shall only become effectve upon ts accttance and sgnng by the Drector. 5.2 Ths A VC may be sgned n multple counterparts, each of whch shall be consdered an orgnal, and all of whch together wll consttute one and the same agreement. 6. CONSTRUCTON OF AVC 6.1 Ths A VC s the result of jont negotatons betweel the partes and shall be deemed to have been drafted by the Department and the Respondents~ n the event of a dspute, the AVC shall not be construed aganst any party Respondents shall n no way represent that the Dep~ent has approved any of the Respondents' busness practces, and shall not use the exstence Or ths AVC to n any way mply such approval. 7. APPLCABLTY 7. Ths AVC shall apply to and contnuously bnd Resjndents and ther afflated enttes, successors, assgns and each of ther offcers, drectors, agenl servants, employees, and 5

6 attorneys, whether actng drectly or through any corporaton, subs'dary, dvson, or other entty. 8. CHANGES N LAW OR BUSNESS PRACTCES 8.1 t s further agreed by the partes that f any statutes c4ange due to amendment, repeal, or dsposton by the legslature, an agency, or court so that thet would permt any acton prohbted by any secton ofths A VC, that secton of ths A VC shall nr longer have any force or effect. 8.2 f any clause, provson, or secton of the A VC shallj for any reason, be held llegal, nvald, or unenforceable, such llegalty, nvaldty, or unenfdrceablty shall not affect any other clause, provson, or secton of ths A VC, and ths A V~ shall be construed and enforced as f such llegal, nvald, or unenforceable clause, secton, fr other provson had not been contaned heren. N WTNESS WHEREOF, Respondents have caused ths A Jc to be executed by ther authorzed representatve as of the date affxed thereon. Unted Resort Marketng, nc. ~d{ ts: Presdent Date: ')/( LJL, 2012 ' Sky Blue lolutons, ncorporated B acker ts: Presdqnt Date: f f'<ln. '2012 6

7 STATE OF FLORDA COUNTYOF~C~L~l~~-- BEFORE ME, an fcer duly authorzed to take acknowledgme ts n the State of Florda, personally appeared Adam J. Macker, as Presdent of Unted Resort Mar etng, nc., and Sky Blue Solutons, ncorporated., and ndvdually, who acknowledged before me tha he executed the foregong nstrument for the purposes theren stated, on ths~ day of Personally known or Produced dentfcaton / (check one) - TypeofdentfcatonProduced: H- Dl- f.dale(r 0\0~S-aq~-0 ents ssstant Attorney General ffce of the Attorney General epartment of Legal Affars 135 West Central Blvd., Sute 1000 Orlando, Florda (407) phone, (407) Fax Acceptedths /~ayof ~V '2012. Drector of Economc Crmes Offce of the Attorney General Department of Legal Affars The Captol Tallahassee, Florda

of any issue of law or fact, to the entry of the

of any issue of law or fact, to the entry of the J J FNANCAL?NDUSTRY REGU?ATORY AUTHORTY LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE WAVER AND CONSENT NO. 20705494530 TO: RE: Department of Enforcement Fnancal ndustry Regulatory Authorty ("FNRA") Anthony Vultaggo Jr. Respondent