Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.
A Las Vegas telemarketing company is facing a federal lawsuit on charges that it violated the rules of the federal do-not-call registry designed to protect consumers from unwanted solicitations.
Braglia Marketing Group LLC and its owners, Frank and Kate Braglia, were sued by the Justice Department on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission. The company is the first to be sued solely for violating rules of the new registry. The lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal court in Las Vegas, claims the company made more than 300,000 calls to consumers who were on the registry.
Under the rules of the do-not-call registry, which went into effect in October, each violation carries a possible $11,000 penalty, which could add up to $3.3 billion in fines for BMG.
The lawsuit also claims that BMG has made more than 10,000 calls to consumers without first paying a required annual fee to access the registry of numbers. The FTC also alleges that the company abandoned calls by failing to connect consumers with a representative within two seconds of answering the phone.
Braglia Marketing, at 4495 W. Hacienda Ave., could not be reached for comment. A number provided by directory assistance for BMG reached an answering machine for Atlantic City Reservations.
Florida-based attorney Sean Wilson, who represents BMG, said the company was aware of the FTC investigation, but declined further comment.
"The lawsuit should come as no surprise to them," said Michael Davis, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission. "We had been in a period of investigation and negotiation, and the company was aware."
The lawsuit said BMG "initiated outbound telephone calls to induce consumers to purchase goods or services." Specifically, the complaint said the Las Vegas company was selling timeshares in Atlantic City for Flagship Resort Development Corp. and Atlantic Palace Development LLC.
Davis said the FTC has pursued legal action regarding the do-not-call registry against three other telemarketing companies, but each of those cases also involved misrepresentations to consumers. In those cases the FTC sought to recover fraudulently obtained funds on behalf of those consumers. The Braglia case, Davis said, is the first in which a company is being pursued solely for violating the rules of the do-not-call registry.
There are currently about 62 million phone numbers registered on the national do-not-call registry, recent FTC statistics said. Since the registry went into effect, consumers have submitted 428,764 complaints related to possible violations. About 200 companies had more than 100 complaints filed against them.
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