April 9, 2007
A federal district court in Seattle has entered an order for permanent injunction and other relief against a Canadian con man whom the Federal Trade Commission charged with targeting elderly U.S. consumers with bogus bond pitches and unfulfilled promises of easy money.
The order bars the fraudster from engaging in similar illegal conduct in the future, as well as from calling consumers whose numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry, as he and his telemarketers did in the past. It also requires him to pay $4.75 million for use in providing refunds to the consumers who bought his bogus bonds.
The court order resolves the Commission's charges that John Raymond Salvator Bezeredi falsely promised consumers that after buying the bonds, they would be entered into monthly drawings and that they were likely to receive substantial cash winnings or receive regular cash payments.
Few, if any, consumers received such payments after buying the nonexistent bonds, leading the Commission to charge Bezeredi with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). He also was charged with illegally calling consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission.
According to the FTC's complaint, Bezeredi, doing business as Dominion Investments (Dominion), Eurobond Fidelity Ltd. (Eurobond), and Imperial Investments (Imperial), violated both Section 5 of the FTC Act and the TSR by telemarketing fake foreign bonds to U.S. consumers.
Specifically, he misrepresented that consumers who bought from, or paid fees to, Dominion, Eurobond, or Imperial would receive regular cash payments, would be entered into monthly drawings to win cash prizes, or were highly likely to receive cash winnings. Further, the FTC charged that Bezeredi failed to disclose to consumers that importing and trafficking in foreign lotteries is a crime in the United States, and that the bond scheme he was pitching constitutes such a lottery.
Finally, the complaint charged Bezeredi with violating the Do Not Call provisions of the TSR by calling, or causing other people to call, numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, as well as by failing to pay the required fees for access to telephone numbers in the area codes he and his telemarketers called.
On October 17, 2005, a federal district court in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order barring Bezeredi's allegedly illegal conduct, pending the resolution of the Commission's complaint. Along with the FTC's complaint, a simultaneous civil action against Bezeredi was filed in British Columbia, Canada.
In addition, he was arrested on October 21, 2005, in Vancouver, B.C., pursuant to criminal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. He has since been released on bail in British Columbia.
