The .gov means its official. 03/03/2023, 159 Some of the most aggressive actions against allegedly deceptive PACs and their fundraisers have come from state or local law enforcement officials. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), the Commission has prepared a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) relating to this Report and Order. regulatory information on FederalRegister.gov with the objective of A Pro-Trump scam PAC returns with a vengeance - POLITICO I dont think you understand how hard it is to fundraise, said Forrest Sandusky Baker IV, a telemarketing professional. The FRFA is set forth in Appendix C. 18. Federal Register But she said the panel has been paralyzed by partisan divisions and, more recently, a lack of a quorum. from 36 agencies. 6. documents in the last year. The "Committee for Police Officer's Defense" (CPOD) was configured to help police officers fight against the continuing "War on Cops" by taking a varied political stance against politicians, activist judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and a host of others who try to bring police officers down by any means. An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob. In interviews, a dozen former employees of Politicause and Zeitlins TPFE described techniques they used to wrangle donations, leaving contributors with the impression they were giving to good causes. Furthermore, we agree with commenters that the Bureau should protect the confidentiality of information submitted through the portal, especially because the data may include personally identifiable information or customer proprietary network information. For complete information about, and access to, our official publications Once submitted, the Bureau will review to determine whether the information presents evidence of a violation of our rules. As a fundraiser for charities, Zeitlin ran into trouble with regulators. It spent $103,700 on behalf of House candidates about 3% of the total, and it has contributed nothing directly to veterans groups. Looking for legal documents or records? documents in the last year, 11 The call centers in Alabama, along with others in Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida, raise money on behalf of scam PACs, slang among criticsfor political action committees that purport to support worthy causes but in reality hand over little of the money for political or charitable purposes. 3. 10. Police Officers' Defense Coalition The Commission has a well-established process for individual consumers to submit complaints about unwanted and suspected illegal robocalls and spoofed calls: The Commission's informal consumer complaint process, which the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau oversees. First, we find that there is value in maintaining the separate informal consumer complaint process. or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice). In such cases, the Enforcement Bureau will forward such consumer complaints to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Committee for Police Officers' Defense Launches Petition in Support of Reuters obtained FTC complaint records, with names redacted, through a Freedom of Information Act request. Bass, who set up several other super PACs, declined to comment. Eric Friedman, the Montgomery County consumer protection offices director, said he used his countys laws prohibiting deceptive trade practices to win the settlement. Committee for Police Officers' Defense (@CPOD_4_Police) / Twitter 4. We wish it was 100, but we have to keep the lights on.. Together Politicause and Pledge Assistance earned close to $20 million between January 2017 through mid-2019 raising money for PACS, campaign finance records show. The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal 'Scam PACs' rake in millions under guise of charity - POLITICO The current informal consumer complaint process is a vital tool for the Commission. When asked by potential donors how much of the money would go to the cause they were touting, telemarketers said they suggested it was the vast majority. The purpose of the portal is to provide private entities a streamlined method to submit information to the Bureau about suspected robocall or spoofing violations. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Good evening this is Mike Stevens calling for the Committee for police officers defense this calls recorded for quality assurance Ok Hello hello. Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics, The Republican Attorneys General Association and Rule of Law Defense Fund had no involvement in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of Wednesdays event, the spokesperson said. They often are set up as super PACs, groups which in recent years have been empowered by the courts to raise and spend money in unlimited amounts, with little regulation. You are not lying, but you are being extremely misleading, said Jason Jones, 24, a former employee at Politicause. . should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official Baker said he founded Salt Lake City fundraising firm American Public Resource because he hoped to support worthy goals like helping veterans.The firm was paid nearly $3 million from 2017 through mid-2019 for its work raising money for PACS that spent anywhere from 0% to 7% on their promoted causes. has no substantive legal effect. The site has since been taken down. Elsewhere in the Communications Act, however, Congress used the term person to include individuals and organizational entities. Timely and thorough information from private entities is crucial to enable the Commission to mitigate illegal robocall incidents and bring swift enforcement actions. The OFR/GPO partnership is committed to presenting accurate and reliable Start Printed Page 52841 More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? 47 U.S.C. First, we find that interpreting the term to exclude individual consumers from the definition of private entity is consistent with Congress's other uses of that term and similar terms. Robocalls and the Do Not Call Registry. The Commission directs the Enforcement Bureau to announce the effective date for those information collections in a document published in the Listen Transcript Hello, good evening. daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov will remain an unofficial This document has been published in the Federal Register. We could no longer say, We are helping police officers get body armor, but we could say, We are supporting efforts to get them body armor, said Jackie Armstrong, 32, a former Politicause employee. 03/03/2023, 1465 on that agencies use to create their documents. This feature is not available for this document. Few other top officers at these fundraising firms and PACS would speak to Reuters on the record. We released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( Add 64.1204 to subpart L to read as follows: (a) Any private entity may submit to the Enforcement Bureau information related to a call made or a text message sent that the private entity has reason to believe was in violation of 64.1200(a) or 47 U.S.C. While in the Shelby County Jail on a felony charge of stealing a truck, Dellinger said he began working at a center in suburban Birmingham then known as Charity Promotions as part of his government-sponsored work release program. The Commission's Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) will monitor the portal. That process is a well-established one that consumers have come to understand and depend upon. This definition is consistent with common usage. This is John calling from the committee. Thus, a private entity is only in a position to provide information about calls that it suspects are violations of the law. it is ordered A private entity cannot determine whether a call violated the TCPA or the Truth in Caller ID Actthis determination is left to the Commission, an action brought by state law enforcement, or a judicial outcome from a private right of action. Sara Kemerer of the . 2. on FederalRegister.gov The stance of the protestors was not consistent with Attorney General Carrs position on election fraud. rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not Black's Law Dictionary defines entity as [a]n organization (such as a business or a governmental unit) that has a legal identity apart from its members or owners. Second, we find that, as a policy matter, we should exclude individuals from the definition of private entity as the term is used in section 10(a) of the TRACED Act. Bass set up five super PACs allegedly dedicated to a range of causes including veterans and firefighters. electronic version on GPOs govinfo.gov. We are committed to protecting and defending law enforcement against progressive politicians, judges, and other officials that encourage the war on cops. Jan. 8, 2021, 5:36 PM PST. All told, the PACs took in $83.1 million during the 2 year period examined by Reuters, about 82% of which went to the eight fundraising companies, according to the campaign disclosures required by the FEC. Police Officers' Defense Coalition and Committee for Police Officers' Defense is committed to cleaning up the annals of justice by flushing out those who pretend to represent the people, but instead manipulate the system and the prosecute police officers as a stepping stone to their next higher political office. Demonstrators attempt to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Listen; Transcript I'm glad you picked up I'll get my answer machine voice ready. Demonstrators attempt to enter the U.S. Capitol during a protest on Jan. 6, 2021. For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission proposes to amend 47 CFR parts 0 and 64 as follows: 1. Federal Do Not Call rules do not apply to political or nonprofit fundraising. Most of the guys that are real good are felons., Regulators responsible for protecting U.S. consumers from potentially unscrupulous fundraisers face a bedeviling new challenge: the scam PAC.. Efforts to pass anti-robocall legislation have stalled for years, but the agreement announced Friday increases the odds that Congress will send the White House a bill before 2020. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Two of the fundraising companies identified by Reuters employed jail inmates and ex-cons as telemarketers, according to interviews in Alabama with several former employees, as well as court records. or call the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY). 804(2). This site displays a prototype of a Web 2.0 version of the daily A website set up to promote the rally that preceded the Capitol incursion lists the Rule of Law Defense Fund as one of the participating organizations. 12. Date Blocked March 12, 2022 Call Activity Low Last detected 10 months ago Block this robocall and over 6,210,974 more! All said they thought they were giving to a charity. ), send an email to What is wrong with giving somebody a second chance? Zeitlin responded when Reuters asked about his hiring practices. Sections 227(b), (c), and (d) impose specific requirements on telemarketing and prerecorded voice message calls to give consumers the ability to know who is calling and to control the calls they receive. About | Police Officers' Defense Coalition 154(i), 154(j), and 227, and section 10(a) of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, Public Law 116-105, 133 Stat. SOURCE: National Consumer Law Center, Federal Trade Commission. The Report and Order contains new or modified information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Information about this document as published in the Federal Register. And while law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, have hit some alleged bad actors withfraud charges, it generally is only when they have tried to conceal where the funds were going, said Adav Noti, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer and now chief of staff at the Washington D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization of specialists in election law. Updated: 05/04/2018 05:00 AM EDT. There should be more transparency on this to protect consumers, he said. 05/04/2018 05:04 AM EDT. a phone number), the caller ID information displayed, the phone number(s) called, the date(s) and time(s) of the relevant calls or texts, the name of the reporting private entity's service provider, and a description of the problematic calls or texts. the current document as it appeared on Public Inspection on The callers said theyd already honed their charity pitches and so found it easy to repurpose them for the political committees, appealing to patriotism and what one called pulling heartstrings.. . Both Politicause and TPFE had procedures to keep workers with fraud convictions from handling credit card information, former callers said, although Politicause workers said the rules were sometimes relaxed for high performers. Though scam PACS have no standard definition and cant be definitively counted, a review of Federal Election Commission records suggests they account for a sliver of the some 6,800 PACs in the country. The otherwise bland office was decorated with posters from the film Glengarry Glen Ross, a tale of ruthless telemarketer salesmen set in a real-estate boiler room. A web of new political action committees raised nearly $6 million in recent months under the guise of supporting police, veterans and . Lisa Cavazuti is an investigative reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 19. POLICE OFFICERS DEFENSE ALLIANCE PAC - committee overview | FEC - FEC.gov While we encourage private entities to make use of the registered consortium's resources, we decline to mandate that private entities must coordinate with the consortium prior to submitting information to the Commission. 727-351-8757 - Committee For Police Officer's Defense - CallerCenter In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission sued Zeitlin for allegedly deceptive practices in charity fundraising, but the case has been suspended because a grand jury was investigating, according to court documents. Some tips for consumers: Listen carefully for the name of the organization. include documents scheduled for later issues, at the request