Blumenthal
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced on Thursday that he has asked the Department of Public Utility Control to look into an independent power seller.
Blumenthal is concerned that Positive Energy Electricity Supply may have provided false information on its state license application.
Blumenthal also wants to determine whether the company and its president and CEO, Joseph E. Ventura, delayed and diverted contracts, which would have cost customers hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in lost discounts.
Positive Energy Electricity Supply, an electricity aggregator that buys power from suppliers and resells it at a savings to consumers, allegedly failed to disclose that Ventura owed a $100,000 fine to the state Department of Banking for submitting false information on a loan application.
The information about Ventura, who was a loan originator at the time, allegedly was not disclosed during the company's state application process.
"Allegations that the company failed to disclose its CEO owed a $100,000 fine for bank fraud are deeply disturbing," Blumenthal said. "If revealed during the review process, the fine and finding likely would have resulted in denial of the company's license."
Blumenthal also seeks to learn if Ventura delayed processing customer requests to switch electricity suppliers in order to divert them to another company.
Blumenthal met with Positive Electricity Energy Supply investors and former employees earlier this month.
In that meeting, Blumenthal was told that Ventura told customers they were signing with supplier Viridian Energy but never actually processed the contracts.