Suthers
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced a settlement on Thursday banning a Westminster, Colo.-based company from selling, marketing or advertising any debt relief services.
Real Talk Network and principals David Allen Burke and Melodie Rose Burke are permanently barred from the debt relief service in the state. Additionally, Real Talk Network will pay the state $226,414, including $200,000 in consumer restitution.
The company allegedly falsely promised through infomercials and deceptive seminars that it could aid consumers in getting out of debt and in paying off their mortgages in less than 10 years. These informercials primarily ran on talk radio stations.
The company also allegedly advertised that it had a 100 percent success rate for participants and advised consumers to attend one of its three hour seminars to learn more.
The company's "free" seminars allegedly concluded with high pressure sales tactics where consumers were induced to pay anywhere from $1,497 to $3,497 for the company's services. Cnsumers who signed up for the services then complained that they received little to no assistance and that the company's alleged special relationships with banks did not exist.
Burke, who filed for bankruptcy in both 2000 and 2007, also allegedly misrepresented his credentials and misled consumers into believing that he was a graduate of the University of Southern California.