Naughty Business of the Week alumnus National Service Award Advisory LLC has entered a consent decree with the Maryland Attorney General's office that requires the Nevada-based company to stop doing business in Maryland and to refund any fees it charged Maryland customers.
The attorney general's office also announced that the company will have to pay the investigation costs as well as a $25,000 penalty.
As we've told you before ...
... in March the Consumer Protection division of the attorney general's office charged the company and its owner, Geovanni Sorvino, with unfair and deceptive trade practices.
According to the AG's office, the company sent mailings to Maryland residents promising they were winners of prizes as much as $3.4 million.
The letters, sometimes from the "Prize Information Bureau" or the "State of Maryland Commissioners of Registration", instructed residents to send in $20 to claim their prizes --- but only received lists of sweepstakes they could enter.
In a prepared statement, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said: