FTC reaches settlement with XCast Labs over illegal robocalls (updated)

Voip-Pal.Com

03/01/2024 24:32

(Adds XCast Labs statement in paragraph 5 and FTC settlement
with second telemarketer in last three paragraphs)
       WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators and XCast
Labs have agreed on a proposed settlement of charges that the
company facilitated billions of illegal robocalls, the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) said on Tuesday.
    The FTC also ordered the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
provider to pay a $10 million civil penalty but suspended the
fine "based on its inability to pay," it said in a statement.
    The penalty will be due immediately if XCast "misrepresented
its financial condition," and XCast must cut ties with firms
that do not follow telemarketing rules, it added.
    Regulators sued Los Angeles-based XCast over charges it
helped other companies contact people on the National Do Not
Call Registry and generally deceive them into making purchases
or contributions after previously warning the company multiple
times. 
    "Companies that turn a blind eye to illegal robocalling
should expect to hear from the FTC," Samuel Levine, director of
the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the statement.
    The company said the FTC press release violated the spirit
of the settlement "which was that XCAST LABS did not admit to
any violations, but agreed to not do what it was already not
doing to avoid a costly and protracted defense."
         The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said
Tuesday's order highlighted the department's "efforts to protect
American consumers from illegal robocalls and to stop
telecommunications providers from enabling those calls.”
    As part of the proposed settlement filed with the U.S.
District Court for Central District of California, XCast must
start using a screening process and halt its ties with firms
that do not comply with U.S. telemarketing laws, the FTC said.
    Under a separate settlement with the FTC, California-based
Response Tree LLC and its president, Derek Thomas Doherty, were
banned by the agency from making or assisting anyone else in
making robocalls or calls to phone numbers on the Do Not Call
Registry, the agency said.
    The FTC had accused Response Tree of operating more than 50
websites designed to trick consumers into providing their
personal information for supposed mortgage refinancing loans and
other services.
    Reuters was unable to contact Response Tree for comment. 

 (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bill
Berkrot)
 ((sheavey@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8300;))