Central Telecom Agrees to $40K Fine, Terms in Proposed Consent Order With DOJ

The DOJ and defendant Central Telecom (CTLD) filed a joint motion (docket 1:23-cv-00259) Wednesday for entry of a consent judgment in U.S. District Court for Colorado in Denver. The proposed consent judgment says 1) CTLD agrees to strict compliance terms, including preparing a compliance plan with manual and training; 2) CTLD agrees to cease all outbound telemarketing activity; 3) CTLD agrees to provide full refunds to consumers who complained in the case; 4) CTLD agrees to pay a $40,000 penalty; and 5) DOJ agrees to resolve the claims in its complaint, which will be dismissed with prejudice. DOJ sued CTLD in January for improperly changing the preferred long distance carriers of consumers and for charging consumers directly, or through their local telephone companies, for long distance service that they never authorized. DOJ cited CTLD for “slamming, cramming, and unclear and insufficiently specific billing practices.” DOJ had a similar settlement (2:23-cv-00161) with Consumer Telcom in March in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas.