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Firm tied to political donor to pay $110M in federal probe
Source: Associated Press
Firm tied to political donor to pay $110M in federal probe
May 23, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — A payment processor run by a prominent political donor will pay $110 million to settle U.S. charges the company knowingly processed transactions for merchants engaging in frauds.
The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that Allied Wallet, its chief executive Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja and two other senior company officers had agreed to settle charges they participated in numerous scams.
The federal probe stemmed in part from a 2018 investigation by The Associated Press that showed Khawaja’s company had helped pornographers, shady debt collectors and offshore gamblers access the international banking system, often by using dummy foreign corporations and fake websites to disguise the underlying business. The reporting was based on thousands of internal company records obtained by the AP.
Khawaja, Allied Wallet and top executives have contributed at least $6 million to Democratic and Republican candidates and groups. The donations earned Khawaja access to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign and a post-election Oval Office visit with President Donald Trump.
-snip-
May 23, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — A payment processor run by a prominent political donor will pay $110 million to settle U.S. charges the company knowingly processed transactions for merchants engaging in frauds.
The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that Allied Wallet, its chief executive Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja and two other senior company officers had agreed to settle charges they participated in numerous scams.
The federal probe stemmed in part from a 2018 investigation by The Associated Press that showed Khawaja’s company had helped pornographers, shady debt collectors and offshore gamblers access the international banking system, often by using dummy foreign corporations and fake websites to disguise the underlying business. The reporting was based on thousands of internal company records obtained by the AP.
Khawaja, Allied Wallet and top executives have contributed at least $6 million to Democratic and Republican candidates and groups. The donations earned Khawaja access to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign and a post-election Oval Office visit with President Donald Trump.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/4b20d70e110c49329f19865ae8cfa8c7
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Source: Federal Trade Commission
Operators of Payment Processing Firm Settle Charges for Assisting Fraudulent Schemes that Took More than $110 Million from Consumers
Allied Wallet allegedly processed fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts
May 21, 2019
Payment processor Allied Wallet, its CEO and owner Ahmad (“Andy”) Khawaja, and two other officers, Mohammad (“Moe”) Diab and Amy Rountree, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they assisted numerous scams by knowingly processing fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the operators of Allied Wallet knowingly processed payments for merchants that were engaged in fraud. These include merchants that were subject to law enforcement action by the FTC and the SEC, such as Stark Law, a phantom debt collection scheme; TelexFree, a pyramid scheme; and MOBE and Digital Altitude, two business coaching schemes that defrauded consumers with claims they would make substantial income.
The FTC alleges that the defendants—often in close collaboration with FTC scofflaw and Allied Wallet sales agent, Thomas Wells—helped numerous dubious merchants hide their fraud from banks and the credit card networks. The defendants’ deceptive practices included creating fake foreign shell companies to open accounts in their names, submitting dummy websites and other false information to merchant banks, and actively working to evade card network rules and monitoring designed to prevent fraud.
The stipulated final orders regarding Khawaja, his four corporations that do business as Allied Wallet, and Allied Wallet’s former VP of Operations, Amy Rountree, prohibit them from processing payments for certain types of merchants, including sellers and marketers of money making opportunities and debt collection services. The orders impose stringent screening and monitoring requirements on payment processing for certain other categories of merchants to ensure proper screening and vetting by Allied Wallet, Khawaja, and Rountree.
The order against Khawaja and his companies, AlliedWallet, Inc., Allied Wallet, Ltd., GTBill, LLC, and GTBill Ltd., imposes a $110 million equitable monetary judgment. After Khawaja turns over a residence in Los Angeles, California, the remainder of the judgment will be suspended due to inability to pay.
-snip-
Allied Wallet allegedly processed fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts
May 21, 2019
Payment processor Allied Wallet, its CEO and owner Ahmad (“Andy”) Khawaja, and two other officers, Mohammad (“Moe”) Diab and Amy Rountree, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they assisted numerous scams by knowingly processing fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the operators of Allied Wallet knowingly processed payments for merchants that were engaged in fraud. These include merchants that were subject to law enforcement action by the FTC and the SEC, such as Stark Law, a phantom debt collection scheme; TelexFree, a pyramid scheme; and MOBE and Digital Altitude, two business coaching schemes that defrauded consumers with claims they would make substantial income.
The FTC alleges that the defendants—often in close collaboration with FTC scofflaw and Allied Wallet sales agent, Thomas Wells—helped numerous dubious merchants hide their fraud from banks and the credit card networks. The defendants’ deceptive practices included creating fake foreign shell companies to open accounts in their names, submitting dummy websites and other false information to merchant banks, and actively working to evade card network rules and monitoring designed to prevent fraud.
The stipulated final orders regarding Khawaja, his four corporations that do business as Allied Wallet, and Allied Wallet’s former VP of Operations, Amy Rountree, prohibit them from processing payments for certain types of merchants, including sellers and marketers of money making opportunities and debt collection services. The orders impose stringent screening and monitoring requirements on payment processing for certain other categories of merchants to ensure proper screening and vetting by Allied Wallet, Khawaja, and Rountree.
The order against Khawaja and his companies, AlliedWallet, Inc., Allied Wallet, Ltd., GTBill, LLC, and GTBill Ltd., imposes a $110 million equitable monetary judgment. After Khawaja turns over a residence in Los Angeles, California, the remainder of the judgment will be suspended due to inability to pay.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/05/operators-payment-processing-firm-settle-charges-assisting
