WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint on Tuesday, alleging that Mercury Marketing, LLC, and associated defendants engaged in deceptive practices to mislead consumers seeking substance use disorder treatment services. The defendants allegedly impersonated specific treatment clinics in Google ads to redirect consumers to their own facilities.
“These defendants took advantage of consumers searching online for substance use disorder treatment services during one of the most difficult times in their lives,” stated Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC will not hesitate to take action to stop such underhanded and illegal conduct.”
The FTC’s complaint identifies multiple defendants, including Mercury Marketing, LLC; Behavioral Healthcare Group of America, LLC; JLux Consulting, LLC; Malibu Detox, LLC; Malibu Recovery Center, LLC; Aliya Health Group, LLC; Fennaside, LLC; JHEL Holding, LLC; as well as individual defendants Christopher LiVolsi, Dennis Rinker, Robby Stempler, and Jennifer Russ.
The FTC alleges that the defendants used Google search ads to prominently display the names of reputable treatment clinics they were unaffiliated with. Consumers were redirected to a call center operated by the defendants, where telemarketers posed as representatives of the clinics consumers were attempting to contact. According to the complaint, these telemarketers falsely claimed Malibu Detox or Malibu Recovery had been recommended based on an objective professional assessment of the consumer’s needs, when in fact the operation was designed to funnel patients directly to the defendants’ facilities.
The FTC asserts that these actions deterred consumers from obtaining treatment at the clinics they originally sought and violated the FTC Act, the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act, and the agency’s Impersonation Rule. The agency is seeking a court order to permanently bar the defendants from engaging in such practices and to impose civil penalties.
The Commission’s vote to file the complaint was unanimous, 3-0. The case has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
The litigation is being led by FTC attorneys Elizabeth Sanger, Stacy Cammarano, Robert Van Someren Greve, and Tiffany Woo from the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
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