Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a lawsuit against an estate property consignment business and its owner for allegedly failing to fully compensate customers for sold items and keeping unsold property. The company is located on the Olympic Peninsula and also does business online. The Attorney General’s Office filed a suit today in Kitsap County Superior Court, alleging violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act by Great Estates, LCC, of Port Orchard, and its owner, Alice Simpson, of Olalla. The company has also done business as Cornucopia Ailisia.
SEATTLE – Washington state consumers are eligible for refunds as part of a settlement reached between the Florida Attorney General’s Office and Email Discount Network (EDN). Email Discount Network, located in Florida, charged more than 250,000 consumers nationwide a monthly fee for shopping coupons and discounts the company advertised on the Internet.
SEATTLE – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a lawsuit against Merchant Processing, Inc. (MPI), of Beaverton, Ore., and several of its associates. The suit alleges the defendants used deceptive tactics to sell credit and debit card processing services to small businesses in Washington state. The Attorney General’s Office filed its complaint today in King County Superior Court, alleging violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act by MPI and two affiliated companies in Oregon: Vequity Financial Group, of Beaverton, and Direct Merchant Processing, of Tigard. MPI’s president Aaron Rian and vice president Michael DeGroat are also defendants.
A loan officer convicted of stealing more than $44,000 from homeowners as part of a program to pay off their mortgages today received an exceptional sentence of 68 months incarceration, $70,600 in restitution and a $10,000 fine, Attorney General Rob McKenna announced.
SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna announced a settlement today with three Washington-based businesses and their owners accused of taking unfair advantage of homeowners and other property owners facing tax foreclosure. At the same time, the office filed civil charges against two other individuals connected to the case.
Lakewood driving school owner Gary R. Probst received a 50-day sentence in Thurston County Superior Court Thursday afternoon after entering a guilty plea for one count of first degree theft for evading more than $14,000 in taxes.
Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a settlement with a Seattle company accused of making misrepresentations in the course of offering parking lot monitoring services to local businesses. The Attorney General’s Office alleged that Parking Enforcement Services, Inc., misrepresented its authority to enforce trespassing laws, operated in a way that deceived people as to the company’s authority to act as law enforcement, and offered an illusory “appeal” process to individuals who disputed fines.
Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a lawsuit against three California-based Internet affiliate advertisers and their respective business entities. The defendants are accused of sending anonymous “Net Send” messages to consumers’ computers that simulate Windows operating system warnings, transmitting bundled software that changes Internet browser home pages, and marketing registry-cleaner programs through the use of deceptive free scans.
SEATTLE - Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a $90 million nationwide settlement with Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. (“Samsung”), resolving allegations that Samsung and others major computer chip manufacturers fixed prices of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). 
SEATTLE & SPOKANE – The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has teamed up with nonprofit organizations and government agencies to sponsor several events in conjunction with National Consumer Protection Week (Feb. 4-10).

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