Penalty Amount
$1,000,000
Consumers Affected
46,204
Harris Jewelry defrauded servicemembers with deceptive marketing, inflated prices, and hidden fees. A multistate settlement requires $34.2 million in refunds and debt relief, stops debt collection, and dissolves the business, affecting over 46,000 servicemembers.
Harris Jewelry must pay $1 million to states, stop collecting $21.3 million in debt, provide $12.9 million in refunds for protection plans, vacate judgments, delete negative credit entries, and dissolve all businesses. An independent monitor will oversee the relief process.
In-house legal teams should scrutinize customer financing agreements, warranty sales contracts, and any third-party financing partner agreements for clauses that permit deceptive marketing representations (e.g., false promises of credit improvement or charitable ties), ambiguous pricing structures that enable inflation, and hidden fee disclosures. Specific attention must be paid to compliance with the Military Lending Act, including APR caps and clear disclosure requirements for servicemember borrowers. Contracts may require amendments to add unambiguous, prominent disclosures about total costs, the non-impact on credit scores from 'investment' programs, and explicit opt-out mechanisms for warranties. Debt collection and credit reporting clauses must be revised to ensure immediate cessation of collection efforts and mandatory credit score correction processes for affected servicemembers.
Entity
Harris Jewelry
Industry
Retail$34.0M
Connecticut Attorney General announced a $34 million multistate settlement with Harris Jewelry for deceptive marketing and false promises to servicemembers, tricking them into high-interest loans for overpriced jewelry, with refunds and debt relief for affected consumers.
The FTC sent warning letters to 12 companies offering 'nudify' tools that generate nonconsensual intimate images, for failing to comply with the TAKE IT DOWN Act (TIDA) by not providing a mechanism for victims to request removal of such content. The letters urge immediate compliance with TIDA, which requires platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate images within 48 hours of a valid request. Noncompliant companies may face future legal action and civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.
The FTC began enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act on May 19, 2026, a law requiring covered platforms to establish a process for victims to request removal of nonconsensual intimate images and delete such content within 48 hours of a valid request. The agency launched a consumer complaint portal, issued compliance guidance for businesses and consumers, and sent reminder letters to major platforms including Meta, TikTok, and X about their obligations under the law. No specific penalties or enforcement actions against individual companies were announced in this release.
$6.5M
A federal court held Cliq Inc. and its executives Andrew Phillips and John Blaugrund in civil contempt for multiple violations of a 2015 FTC order requiring the payment processor to prevent enabling consumer fraud. The court found the defendants facilitated fraud by processing transactions for high-risk merchants, avoiding fraud monitoring, failing to conduct required underwriting, and ignoring chargeback thresholds. The court imposed $6.5 million in civil contempt sanctions against the defendants.
$795.8M
The FTC and State of Nevada settled charges with lead defendants of the IM Mastery Academy MLM scheme, including Chris and Isis Terry and their affiliated companies, over false earnings claims used to promote financial training programs and a multi-level marketing venture. The stipulated order imposes a $795.8 million judgment, with defendants surrendering nearly $90 million in assets including luxury real estate, vehicles, jewelry, and a yacht, totaling over $100 million with prior judgments from other involved defendants. The order also bans defendants from selling trading-training services, prohibits false earnings claims, and restricts deceptive practices including negative-option misrepresentations and telemarketing violations.
The FTC and State of Illinois, via the Department of Justice, filed a complaint against B.E.S.T. GDR LLC (d/b/a Premium Home Service) and its owner Yosef Bernath for creating thousands of fake home repair business listings with fabricated five-star reviews to deceive consumers. The defendants allegedly routed consumer calls to unqualified representatives, arranged for unlicensed technicians, and violated the FTC Act, Reviews and Testimonials Rule, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and Illinois consumer protection laws. No monetary penalty has been imposed yet as the case is in initial filing stages.