Arizona Attorney General has shut down the company, assets of company and main principals have been seized. Here is the link: azcentral.com/business/articles/0821biz-settlement0822.html
Just in case the link fails at some time, here is the story from dated August 21. Copyrights to Arizona Republic. Anyone who lost money probably should contact someone listed below for a chance to get it back. Suggest providing proof when doing the contact.
Phoenix company swindled $19.5M on promise of online riches
Andrew Johnson
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 21 04:16 PM
A Phoenix company swindled $19.5 million from unsuspecting customers in exchange for the promise of being able to get rich quick through the Internet, according to state and federal investigators who have shut the business down.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that the Results Group LLC and two of its top managers have been ordered to pay almost a half million dollars in fines for violating fraud and telemarketing laws.
Edward Longoria and Amber Halvorson, Results Group's owners, have been prohibited from running any telemarketing businesses or any enterprises that offer business opportunities. Their assets have been seized and authorities said some victims may be reimbursed.
"They preyed upon folks who were looking for a possible new career or way to make money at home, and unfortunately this is a common scheme, especially with the economy being not as strong as it has been, " Goddard said at a news conference Tuesday.
According an Arizona Superior Court judgment, Longoria and Halvorson reeled in victims by advertising work-at-home opportunities using pop-up ads that appeared on job posting Web sites. They and their employees contacted the people and sold them Web sites that would link to other businesses, including Amazon.com and casino Web sites.
The company charged between $100 and $600 to set up a Web page, telling customers they could earn $1,000 a week, or as much as $100,000 annually.
In addition to the Web pages, the Results Group sold customers advertising packages that cost up to $10,000 annually to funnel traffic to their sites.
But, based on the investigation, no customers earned any money from the sites, and when they tried to get refunds from the Results Group the company refused, according to the judgment.
Goddard said investigators do not know how many people the Results Group may have victimized, but a joint investigation with his office and the Federal Trade Commission turned up victims from across the country.
Under the Arizona judgment, Longoria and Halvorson must pay the state $40,000, including $25,000 for consumer fraud education and $15,000 for attorneys' fees.
In addition, the company, Longoria and Halvorson were ordered to pay the federal government $435,000 under a separate federal order. Some of that money will be used to reimburse victims.
The fines were determined after the government liquidated Longoria and Halvorson's personal property, which included a luxury sports car, real estate and life insurance policies, said David Griggs, an attorney for the FTC's southwest region.
The Attorney General's office and FTC first filed their complaints against the company in November. At the time, the FTC announced a federal sweep cracking down on business-opportunity scams.
Longoria and Halvorson incorporated the Results Group in August according to documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission. The state court order said the company operated primarily from a boiler room at 2845 E. Camelback Road.
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