Get our free email newsletter

U.S. FCC Proposes Record Fine for Robocalls

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a record fine against two Texas-based health insurance telemarketers for making an estimated 1 billion illegally spoofed robocalls.

In a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued in early June, the Commission proposed a fine of $225 million against John C. Spiller and Jakob A. Mears, who operated a number of businesses, including Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom. Spiller and Rising Eagle reportedly made 1 billion robocalls during the first four and a half months of 2019, falsely promoting short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans from well-known health insurance companies.

Unsuspecting consumers who responded to the robocalls were transferred to call center representatives who would attempt to convince them to purchase an insurance product sold by one of Rising Eagle’s client companies.  The FCC reports that one of those companies, Health Advisors of America, was sued in February 2019 by the Missouri Attorney General for telemarketing violations.

- Partner Content -

A Dash of Maxwell’s: A Maxwell’s Equations Primer – Part Two

Maxwell’s Equations are eloquently simple yet excruciatingly complex. Their first statement by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 heralded the beginning of the age of radio and, one could argue, the age of modern electronics.

Spiller admitted that he knowingly called consumers on the Do Not Call list maintained by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) because he believed that such consumers would be more profitable to target.

According to the FCC, the $225 million fine proposed in this case is the largest single fine ever proposed by the Commission in its 86-year history.

Read the complete text of the Commission’s Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture.

 

Related Articles

Digital Sponsors

Become a Sponsor

Discover new products, review technical whitepapers, read the latest compliance news, and check out trending engineering news.

Get our email updates

What's New

- From Our Sponsors -

Sign up for the In Compliance Email Newsletter

Discover new products, review technical whitepapers, read the latest compliance news, and trending engineering news.