In a September 16th court filing, Online Education Academy has advised it is “suspending its business and dissolving as soon as possible”.
Online Education Academy (OEA) is a corporate defendant in the FTC’s 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle fraud lawsuit.
The FTC alleges the company, run by Mark Schwartz, was part of a wider scheme that
used a combination of unlawful, pre-recorded telephone calls (“robocalls”), live telephone calls, text messaging, internet ads, emails, social media, and live events to market and sell fraudulent money-making opportunities to consumers.
In line with (failed) attempts by other defendants, on August 21st OEA LLC filed a motion requesting an asset-freeze carveout.
Both the court-appointed Monitor and FTC opposed the motion.
In their opposition motion the FTC pointed out that
OEA “made material misrepresentations in the promotion and sale of money-making programs to consumers, including that
consumers are likely to earn substantial amounts of money.”OEA has since admitted in deposition testimony that it illegally pitched its products through false or unsubstantiated earnings claims.
$100,000 to $110,000 of OEA funds have been frozen, of approximately $600,000 OEA generated since its late 2018 launch.
The FTC argues
these consumer funds should remain protected, particularly absent a showing of compelling need for a specific amount of money.
Rather than respond to the FTC and Monitor’s objections, on September 16th OEA informed the court of its “suspension of business and impending dissolution”.
OEA is advising the court of its impending dissolution and suspension of business.
OEA intends to continue to cooperate with the FTC and all other parties in bringing this matter to a conclusion.
What with all the other carveout requests being denied, it was pretty obvious OEA and Schwartz didn’t stand much of a chance.
Update 4th March 2020 – OEA has settled 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle fraud allegations with the FTC for $600,000.