Attorney General Todd Rokita shuts down massive robocall operation
Attorney General Todd Rokita this week obtained judgments shutting down a massive robocall operation that has blasted billions of illegal robocalls to people across the country, including in Indiana. In 2019 and 2020 alone, the defendants bombarded Hoosiers with more than 25 million robocalls.
“Winning the war on robocalls requires constantly staying on offense and tracking the latest technologies the scammers are using to carry out their schemes,†Attorney General Rokita said. “We have pledged to do that since we first took office, and we continue to make good on that promise.â€
Defendants, in this case, include John Caldwell Spiller II and his business partner Jakob Mears, the owners of Texas-based Rising Eagle Capital Group LLC and JSquared Telecom LLC, as well as Rising Eagle Capital Group–Cayman.
The Office of the Attorney General sued the defendants in June 2020 alleging violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule, as well as various state consumer protection laws. The complaint alleged that defendants used their companies to perpetrate scams involving extended car warranties and health care services, among other things.
The defendants also spoofed calls to mislead consumers and called people on Do Not Call lists. The 25 million Hoosiers called in 2019 and 2020 included more than 13.5 million calls to people whose numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry and 5 million calls to Hoosiers on Indiana Do Not Call List.
In achieving the successful multistate settlements, Attorney General Rokita worked with attorneys general in Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, and Texas.
Mears and Spiller are now permanently banned from 1) initiating or facilitating any robocalls, 2) working in or with companies that make robocalls, or 3) engaging in any telemarketing.
The court also ordered monetary judgements totaling more than $244 million for Spiller and Mears combined — though these payments will be largely suspended in favor of the permanent operational bans and because of their inability to pay.
Attorney General Rokita’s legal action in this matter isn’t over. The attorneys general are continuing their cases in this same litigation against Florida-based Scott Shapiro, Michael Theron Smith Jr., and Health Advisors of America Inc. These defendants allegedly worked with Mears and Spiller to make illegal robocalls targeting consumers who never asked to be contacted by Health Advisors.
The Mears and Spiller judgments are attached.
