Exactly How Long is the Long Arm of the Law? The FTC Seeks to Extend its Reach to Offshore Payment Processors
We frequently hear about the "long arm of the law," but, in the case of the Federal Trade Commission, just how far does that arm actually reach? The FTC recently filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California adding SIA Transact Pro, a Latvian payment processor, and its CEO as additional defendants in its case against Apex Capital Group, LLC and other parties. The amended complaint alleges that Apex Capital defrauded consumers, and that the newly added foreign-based payment processor helped its merchant, Apex Capital, avoid detection by consumers and law enforcement.
Oh Won’t You Stay: The Exception to the Governmental Unit Exception to the Bankruptcy Code’s Automatic Stay
Clients sometimes ask whether filing bankruptcy can protect them from Federal Trade Commission scrutiny. The saga of Joseph Rensin and his company BlueHippo provides an opportunity to review the limited protection bankruptcy provides from the FTC. For more on the underlying case see our prior blog posts here and here.
Rensin, the owner of BlueHippo, has succeeded – at least temporarily – in his latest effort to avoid paying the $13.4 million judgment entered in the FTC’s decade-long litigation against the defendants. The Second Circuit held that the district court violated the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay by holding Rensin in contempt after he had filed for bankruptcy relief.