Markets Wired

Commission approval of amended complaints – The Commission has authorized the staff to file an amended complaint in the ongoing litigation against Data Business Solutions Inc., also doing business as Internet Listing Service Corp., ILS Corp., ILSCORP.NET, Domain Listing Service Corp., DLS Corp., and DLSCORP.NET, and its principals Ari Balabanian, Isaac Benlolo, and Kirk Mulveney. In its original complaint, filed in May 2008, the FTC charged the defendants with posing as domain name registrars and sending fraudulent bills to thousands of small businesses and nonprofit organizations in the United States for their annual “Website Address Listing.” Through this action, the Commission has added one corporate and two individual defendants to the case: 1646153 Ontario, Inc., Steven E. Dale, and Pearl Keslassy.

The vote authorizing the staff to file the amended complaint was 4-0. Copies of the amended complaint are available now on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. X080034; the staff contact is Karen D. Dodge, FTC Midwest Region, Chicago, 312-960-5608; see press release dated June 17, 2008.)

– The Commission has authorized the staff to file an amended complaint in the ongoing
“Operation Tele-PHONEY” litigation against 9107-4021 Québec, Inc., doing business as Med Provisions and Pronto Meds, and its principals, Sameer Malhotra and Pooja Malhotra. According to the original complaint filed in April of 2008 as part of Operation Tele-PHONEY, Med Provisions, operating from Montreal, fraudulently telemarketed discount prescription drugs to elderly Americans. Through the amended complaint, the Commission has added two corporate defendants, 9107-5424 Québec, Inc., and Zonecom Technologies, Inc., and two individual defendants, Ravinder Chawla and Amit Malhotra. The amended complaint claims there was a common enterprise among the three corporations and asserts that the four individuals controlled the common enterprise.

The vote authorizing the staff to file the amended complaint was 4-0. Copies of the amended complaint are available now on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. X080028; the staff contact is Michael Milgrom, FTC East Central Region, Cleveland, 216-263-3419; see press release dated May 20, 2008.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

(FYI 40.2008.wpd)