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LEGAL NEWSLINE

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Idaho AG settles with magazine promoter

Wasden

BOISE, Idaho (Legal Newsline) - Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced a settlement Friday with a magazine promoter and his company for allegedly accepting money for advertisements before leaving Idaho without publishing the magazine or giving refunds.

Sam Consalvi, the owner of Sector Marketing, allegedly accepted money from businesses based on a misrepresentation that their purchased ads would appear in the monthly Gem County Spotlight. Business owners in the Emmett area filed complaints with Wasden's office alleging that they paid Consalvi as much as $700 for ad space in the unpublished magazine.

Consalvi allegedly said that he was starting a local business-featuring community magazine and that the magazine would be sent to all Gem County residents starting in December. Consalvi produced a rough draft of the publication, but allegedly never published or distributed the final copies as promised, stopped returning phone calls and moved out of Idaho.

Wasden's office located Consalvi in Texas and obtained a consent judgment requiring Consalvi to refund the businesses that paid for ads in the magazine. The judgment also prohibited Consalvi from selling ad space in any type of media within Idaho or soliciting consumers in Idaho for the purchasing of ad space. Consalvi is also required to pay Wasden's office $800 in attorney fees. He must pay $20,000 in civil penalties if he violates the consent judgment.

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