WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a settlement agreement with Michael Abdelmesseh and KMA Merchant Services LLC, charged by the FTC for laundering credit card charges as part of a business scheme for Money Now Funding (MNF).
The FTC announced its settlement with Abdelmesseh and KMA, who in 2015 were banned by a court order from selling businesses and work-at-home opportunities and charged last year with assisting MNF to access credit card networks. According to the FTC, the defendants used fraudulent applications with names of moret than 40 fictitious MNF companies and were charged for violating the FTC Act as well as the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).
According to the FTC, the settlement order puts a judgment of more than $1.3 million in suspension because of the defendants' inability to pay. However, the full judgment will be due immediately if the defendants have been found to have given a false account of their finances.
The order also bans Abdelmesseh and KMA from acting as a sales agent or independent sales organization and from payment processing. In addition, the defendants are banned from participating in credit card laundering.
The FTC also says it will amend a 2017 complaint and add one count of assisting and facilitating violations of the TSR.