FTC, Fla. AG, Defendants Stipulate to Barring Unfair Chargeback Practices

The parties in a fraud case involving consumer chargeback requests agreed that Global E-Trading and its officers Gary Cardone and Monica Eaton are permanently enjoined from providing chargeback mitigation services to any covered client, said a stipulated order Tuesday (docket 8:23-cv-00796) for permanent injunction, monetary and statutory relief and final judgment filed by the defendants and by the FTC and the Florida Department of Legal Affairs in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa. The FTC and Florida attorney general alleged in an April 12 complaint (see 2304130013) that the defendants violated Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by submitting misleading documentation in connection with disputing consumer chargeback requests on behalf of their clients, “ignoring red flags indicating that the documentation was misleading,” and effecting microtransactions that “artificially lowered a merchant’s overall Chargeback Rate by inflating the total number of transactions run through the merchant’s account.” Defendants are also enjoined from providing chargeback mitigation on behalf of themselves or others; assisting others in submitting documentation they should know is misleading or materially inaccurate or failing to disclose any information that Defendants know or should know is relevant and material; providing screenshots of webpages that are “materially different” from webpages consumers saw at the time of the transaction; and engaging in any prohibited tactics to avoid fraud and risk programs established by a financial institution, it said. Under the order, defendants neither admit nor deny the allegations; they admit facts necessary to establish jurisdiction, said the filing. Defendants waive any claim they may have under the Equal Access to Justice Act through the date of the judgment order and agree to bear their own costs and attorneys’ fees, it said. Plaintiffs and defendants waive all rights to appeal, challenge or contest the validity of the judgment order, it said. The final judgment amount includes $100,000 for civil penalties and $50,000 for Florida’s attorneys’ fees.