Attorney General's News Release

February 4, 2008

Nixon obtains order requiring Florida telemarketer to pay $80,000 for violating state No Call law

St. Louis, Mo. — A Florida-based telemarketer that continued to make fund-raising calls to Missourians who asked not to be called will pay $80,000 to the state under a consent judgment obtained today by Attorney General Jay Nixon in St. Louis City Circuit Court. Nixon said Xentel Inc., a Delaware corporation based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., made the calls despite being cited for earlier violations in a 2004 court order. In addition to the $80,000 payment, Xentel also must abide by a list of policies and procedures to avoid continued violation of the law.

Nixon sued Xentel in August 2003 for violating Missouri consumer protection laws by using manipulative, high-pressure techniques to solicit donations, and by making repeated solicitation calls to Missourians on the state No Call list. In May 2004, Nixon obtained a court order against Xentel requiring the company to pay $75,000 to the state and to implement and maintain procedures to ensure future compliance with state consumer protection and telemarketing laws.

Nixon says that, despite the 2004 judgment, Xentel continued to engage in a campaign of soliciting for charitable donations from Missouri consumers who previously requested that the company place their residential telephone numbers on an internal do-not-call list. Such activity by Xentel not only violated Missouri consumer protection laws, but also the terms of the 2004 consent judgment against the company, Nixon says.

“Hopefully this company will get the message now, and that is that my office will aggressively go after telemarketers who persist in making calls after they have been told to stop,” Nixon said. “A court order requiring them to adopt very stringent policies to ensure compliance with the law, as well as a payment of $80,000, should reinforce that message.”

According to today’s judgment, Xentel must establish, implement and maintain systems and procedures to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, including proper training of their telemarketing representatives of those laws; maintain records that prove the company is complying with Missouri law, including copies of written requests from Missourians asking to be removed from Xentel’s contact list and copies of Xentel’s response to the consumer; maintain an updated list of Missouri consumers who request not to be called by Xentel; and maintain recordings of all telephone calls Xentel places to Missouri consumers for a period of six months. Xentel also must pay $80,000 to the state, comply with all state consumer protection laws and pay a penalty of $5,000 per violation for any future knowing violations of those laws.

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Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

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