The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered a business owner to pay more than $2 million for repeatedly delivering unsolicited advertisements via fax to consumers in violation of federal law.
Issued in May 2013, the Commission’s Forfeiture Order levies a penalty of $2,187,000 against Tim Gibbons, the owner of United Employee Benefits Group (UEBG) and related entities, for delivering 196 unsolicited fax advertisements to 156 individual consumers. The Forfeiture Order follows repeated efforts by the Commission over a nearly three year period to stop the flow of junk faxes from Gibbon’s companies, including a Citation issued in October 2010, and two separate Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued in February and September 2012.
The only response from either Gibbons or his companies to these enforcement efforts was a request to the FCC from an attorney representing Gibbons for an extension of time to respond to the February 2012 Notice of Apparent Liability. The Commission granted the extension, but was later notified that Gibbons did not plan to submit a formal response to the Notice.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 makes it “unlawful for any person within the United States…to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device, to send, to a telephone facsimile machine, an unsolicited advertisement,” without prior authorization of the recipient.
In this case, the Commission cited Gibbons for willful and repeated violations of its regulations, levying $16,000 in fines for each of the 196 apparent violations, for a total of $2,187,000.
Read the complete text of the FCC’s Forfeiture Order against Tim Gibbons, owner of United Employee Benefits Group (UEBG) for junk fax violations.
