United States District Court, D. Connecticut
STIPULATED PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AS TO DEFENDANT
STARTUP MASTERS N.J. INC.
VICTOR
A. BOLDEN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Plaintiff
Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) commenced this
civil action on June 17, 2019, under Sections 13(b) and 19 of
the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 53(b) and 57b, Section
410(b) of the Credit Repair Organizations Act
(“CROA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1679h(b), Section 6(b)
of the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention
Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6105(b), the Consumer Review Fairness
Act (“CRFA”), 15 U.S.C. § 45b, Section
108(c) of the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”), 15
U.S.C. § 1607(c), and Section 918(c) of the Electronic
Fund Transfers Act (“EFTA”), 15 U.S.C. §
1693o(c). (ECF No. 1.)
On June
18, 2019, on motion by the FTC, the Court entered an ex
parte temporary restraining order (“TRO”)
with asset freeze and other equitable relief against
Defendants Grand Teton Professionals, LLC, 99th
Floor, LLC, Mait Management Inc., Demand Dynamics LLC,
Atomium Corps Inc. (Wyoming), Atomium Corps Inc. (Colorado),
Startup Masters N.J. Inc. (Wyoming), Startup Masters N.J.
Inc. (New Jersey), First Incorporation Services Inc.
(Wyoming), First Incorporation Services Inc. (Florida),
Douglas Filter, and Marcio G. Andrade. (ECF No. 33.) Now, the
FTC and Defendant Startup Masters N.J. Inc. (New Jersey), by
and through their counsel, have stipulated and agreed to the
entry of a preliminary injunction (“Order”).
FINDINGS
OF FACT
By
stipulation of the parties, the Court finds that:
A. The FTC and Stipulating Defendant have stipulated and
agreed to the entry of this preliminary injunction order
without any admission of wrongdoing or violation of law, and
without a finding by the Court of law or fact other than
stated below.
B. The Stipulating Defendant waives all rights to seek
judicial review or otherwise challenge or contest the
validity of this Order.
C. The FTC asserts that the Court has jurisdiction over the
subject matter of this case, and there is good cause to
believe that it will have jurisdiction over Defendants.
D. The FTC asserts that venue in the District of Connecticut
is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b) and (c) and 15
U.S.C. § 53(b).
E. The FTC asserts that there is good cause to believe that
the Stipulating Defendant has engaged and is likely to
continue to engage in acts or practices that violate Section
5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), CROA, 15 U.S.C.
§§ 1679-1679l, the FTC's Telemarketing
Sales Rule (“TSR”), 16 C.F.R. Part 310, the CRFA,
15 U.S.C. § 45b, TILA, 15 U.S.C. §§
1601-1666j, and its implementing Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. Part
1026, and Section 907(a) of EFTA, 15 U.S.C. § 1693e(a),
and its implementing Regulation E, 12 C.F.R. Part 1005, and
that the FTC is therefore likely to prevail on the merits of
this action.
F. The FTC asserts that there is good cause to believe that
immediate and irreparable harm will result from the
Stipulating Defendant's alleged ongoing violations of
Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, CROA, the TSR, the CRFA, TILA
and Regulation Z, and EFTA and Regulation E unless the
Stipulating Defendant is immediately restrained and enjoined
by Order of this Court.
G. The FTC asserts that there is good cause to believe that
immediate and irreparable damage to the Court's ability
to grant effective final relief for consumers in the form of
monetary restitution and/or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains
will occur from the transfer, dissipation, or concealment by
the Stipulating Defendant of its assets or business records
unless the Stipulating Defendant is immediately restrained
and enjoined by Order of this Court.
H. The FTC asserts that good cause exists for continuing the
asset freeze over the Stipulating Defendant's assets.
I. This order is in the public interest.
J. No. security is required of any agency of the United
States for issuance of a preliminary injunction, Fed.R.Civ.P.
65(c)).
DEFINITIONS
For
this Order, the following definitions shall apply:
A. “Asset” means any legal or
equitable interest in, right to, or claim to, any property,
wherever located and by whomever held.
B. “Consumer” means any Person.
C. “Credit Repair Service” means
any service, in return for payment of money or other valuable
consideration, for the express or implied purpose of: (1)
improving any consumer's credit report, credit record,
credit history, credit profile, credit score, or credit
rating; or (2) providing advice or assistance to any consumer
with regard to any activity or service the purpose of which
is to improve a consumer's credit report, credit record,
credit history, credit profile, credit score, or credit
rating.
D. “Defendants” means Corporate
Defendants and Individual Defendants, individually,
collectively, or in any combination. “Corporate
Defendants” means Grand Teton Professionals,
LLC, 99th Floor, LLC, Mait Management Inc., Demand
Dynamics LLC, Atomium Corps Inc. (a Wyoming company), Atomium
Corps Inc. (a Colorado company), Startup Masters N.J. Inc. (a
Wyoming company), Startup Masters N.J. Inc. (a New Jersey
company), First Incorporation Services Inc. (a Wyoming
company), First Incoporation Services Inc. (a Florida
company), and each of their subsidiaries, affiliates,
successors, and assigns. “Individual
Defendants” means Douglas Filter and Marcio G.
Andrade, individually, collectively, or in any combination.
E. “Document” is synonymous in
meaning and equal in scope to the usage of
“document” and “electronically stored
information” in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(a),
Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(a), and includes writings, drawings, graphs,
charts, photographs, sound and video recordings, images,
Internet sites, web pages, websites, electronic
correspondence, including e-mail and instant messages,
contracts, accounting data, advertisements, FTP Logs, Server
Access Logs, books, written or printed records, handwritten
notes, telephone logs, telephone scripts, receipt books,
ledgers, personal and business canceled checks and check
registers, bank statements, appointment books, computer
records, customer or sales databases and any other
electronically stored information, including Documents
located on remote servers or cloud computing systems, and
other data or data compilations from which information can be
obtained directly or, if necessary, after translation into a
reasonably usable form. A draft or non-identical copy is a
separate document within the meaning of the term.
F. “Electronic Data Host” means
any person or entity in the business of storing, hosting, or
otherwise maintaining electronically stored information. This
includes, but is not limited to, any entity hosting a website
or server, and any entity providing “cloud based”
electronic storage.
G. “Person” means a natural
person, an organization or other legal entity, including a
corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited
liability company, association, cooperative, or any other
group or combination acting as an entity.
H. “Stipulating Defendant” means
Startup Masters N.J. Inc. (a New Jersey company) and its
successors and assigns.
ORDER
PROHIBITED CREDIT REPAIR ACTIVITIES
I.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Stipulating
Defendant, the Stipulating Defendant's officers, agents,
employees, and attorneys, and all other persons in active
concert or participation with them, who receive actual notice
of this Order by personal service or otherwise, whether
acting directly or indirectly, in connection with the
advertising, marketing, promoting, or offering for sale of
any Credit Repair Service, are temporarily restrained and
enjoined from:
A.
Misrepresenting or assisting others in misrepresenting,
expressly or by implication:
1. That any Person can remove negative information or hard
inquiries from any Person's credit report, credit record,
credit history, credit profile;
2. That any Person will add any Person as an additional
authorized user to any other Person's credit card or ...