September 11, 2020 – Order of Permanent Injunction Entered

The Court entered a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment (“Order”) as to all parties.  (The Order is linked to the right.)  Among other things, the Order required Online Trading Academy to send out a notice to every consumer who purchased their trading or investment programs.  The notice provided that if they responded within 45 days of the notice, they could elect to have any outstanding account balances with Online Trading Academy forgiven and the debt removed from the consumer’s credit report.

The Order also terminated Mr. McNamara’s role as Monitor and appointed him instead as Liquidator of all Settlement Estate Assets.  Defendants were ordered to deliver various vehicles and an aircraft to the Liquidator’s possession to enable him to commence the sale of those items, the proceeds of which will ultimately be transferred to the FTC.

June 1, 2020 – Case Stayed Based on Notice of Tentative Settlement

The Court stayed the case in its entirety based upon notice from the parties that they had reached a settlement pending review of the Federal Trade Commission.

May 4, 2020 – Monitor Files First Interim Status Report

The Monitor filed his First Interim Status Report with the Court.  (The report is linked on the right.)  The report outlines the Monitor’s compliance review and findings of Online Trading Academy’s website, email solicitations, TV and radio advertisements, social media, direct mail, long form radio informercials, and sales and training seminars.  The Monitor identified areas of concern related to prohibited earnings claims, time or effort claims, and capital claims.

April 2, 2020 – Court Issues Preliminary Injunction and Appoints Monitor

The Court has issued a Preliminary Injunction and appointed Mr. McNamara of Regulatory Resolutions as monitor (“Monitor”) over Online Trading Academy.  The Monitor was tasked with reviewing Defendants’ marketing claims, marketing materials, webinars, live sales events, and call and sales events recordings to ensure compliance with the Preliminary Injunction.

February 12 and 25, 2020 – FTC Sues Online Training Academy, TRO Issued

On February 12, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a lawsuit against Defendants who operated Online Trading Academy which offered to teach consumers how to “invest like the pros on Wall Street.”  (The Complaint is linked on the right.)  The FTC alleged Defendants falsely claimed they could show students how to find “low-risk, high-potential investing opportunities” by applying a “patented strategy to any asset class including stocks, options, futures and currencies.”  The FTC also alleged Defendants targeted older consumers and routinely represented that substantial income could be generated with Online Trading Academy’s trading strategy and purchasers could quickly attain proficiency in Online Trading Academy’s strategy and deploy it to earn substantial income, regardless of their background and prior experience.  The FTC alleged the investment training programs violated the FTC Act and the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016.

On February 25, 2020 the Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”).  (The TRO is linked on the right.)