• by Ray Schultz , September 16, 2022

A company that send emails offering financial consultations to public employees in Indiana has settled charges that the emails were deceptive. 

PERA, LLC, based in Nevada, was fined $100,000 -- $92,500 of which was suspended depending on compliance with the settlement, according to the consent judgment on file in the Marion County Superior/Circuit Court.

The company, which did not admit any wrongdoing, created the false impression that the emails were from the Indiana Public Retirement System, according to JDSupra.

“If an employee agreed to the consultation, PERA allegedly sold the appointment to a company marketing financial products,” JDSupra adds. 

In addition to the fine, the firm is enjoined from engaging “in business activity relating to soliciting, selling or coordinating appointments, discussions or similar communications to public employees on behalf of, or in connection with, third-party financial representatives” in the state for seven years, the judgment states. 

Also, the company must submit details about itself and subsidiaries prior to reengaging in business in Indiana.

The judgment does not limit private right action by consumers, or actions by the federal, state or federal government.