Class Action Alleges ‘Scam’ Political Action Committees Used ‘Rampant’ Robocalls to Solicit Millions from Consumers

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A proposed class action alleges fundraiser Richard Zeitlin and a web of “sham” political action committees (PACs), their treasurers and other companies have committed rampant violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act for the sole purpose of siphoning from consumers millions in political donations. 

The 31-page lawsuit alleges Zeitlin and “his network of companies,” defendants American Technology Services, LLC; Unified Data Services, LLC; Compliance Consultants, LLC and Wired 4 Data, LLC, have reaped millions in ostensible donations by placing unlawful autodialed, prerecorded voice calls to hundreds of thousands of consumers without first obtaining express consent to do so. According to the complaint, the Zeitlin companies place these calls via “soundboard technology” on behalf of groups “masquerading” as legitimate PACs, who purport to raise money for political candidates or important causes, including support for veterans, law enforcement, firefighters or victims of diseases. 

The suit alleges the apparent PACs on whose behalf the Zeitlin companies place unlawful calls are, in fact, scams. The plaintiffs stress in the complaint that their lawsuit “is not about speech, the First Amendment, or political ideology; rather, it is about whether political action committees can misuse telemarketing activities and violate the TCPA for the purpose of facilitating a massive money-making scheme.” 

According to the lawsuit, the following PACs and their “complicit” treasurers, rather than put the millions they’ve raised to work for noble causes, have instead funneled “nearly all of the funds” back to the Zeitlin companies by way of what the suit calls “an array of bogus and inflated overhead expenditures”: 

• American Veterans Initiative d/b/a National Alliance for American Veterans; Treasurer: Richard League
• American Veterans Support Group PAC; Treasurer: Paul DeRidder
• Americans for Police and Trooper Safety; Treasurer: Paul Kutak
• Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer; Treasurer: Robert Piaro
• Association for Emergency Responders and Firefighters; Treasurer: Robert Piaro
• Autism Hear Us Now LLC, Autism Hear Us Now PAC Inc.; Treasurer: Oliver Cappleman
• Childrens Leukemia Support Network, LLC; Treasurer: Kecia M. Pollock
• Constitutional Leadership PAC; Treasurer: Robert Price
• Cops and Kids Together; Treasurer: Paul Kutak
• Firefighters Alliance of America LLC; Treasurer: Kecia M. Pollock
• Heart Disease Network of America; Treasurer: Keicia M. Pollock [sic]
• Honoring American Law Enforcement PAC (AKA HALE PAC); Treasurer: Bob Stitt
• Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC; Treasurer: Jeremy Kevitt
• National Assistance Committee; Treasurer: Kerry Sharon
• Police and Trooper Support; Treasurer: Matt Cobos
• Police Coalition of America d/b/a Police Assistance Foundation; Treasurer: Richard League
• Police Officers Defense Alliance LLC; Treasurer: Kecia M. Pollock
• Standing by Veterans PAC Inc.; Treasurer: Robert Piaro
• Support our Firefighters and Paramedics PAC, Inc.; Treasurer: Oliver Cappleman
• The Disabled Veterans Coalition; Treasurer: Matt Cobos
• United American Veterans PAC; Treasurer: Bryan Monville
• United Veterans Alliance of America LLC, United Veterans Alliance of America PAC Inc.; Treasurer: Oliver Cappleman
• US Veterans Assistance Foundation; Treasurer: Robert Piaro
• Veterans AID PAC Inc.; Treasurer: Oliver Cappelman. 

The lawsuit claims that the above-listed PACs “[u]ltimately spend relatively little” on genuine political activity or the causes they purport to champion. Instead, the PACs “merely function as Mr. Zeitlin’s personal cash cows,” the complaint alleges, charging that the actions of the defendants and companies like them are “the reason the TCPA exists and remains a vital consumer protection tool.” 

The TCPA prohibits entities from placing any call, including political calls, to a cellular telephone by way of an automatic telephone dialing system or artificial or prerecorded voice without obtaining the prior express consent of the called party, the suit says. The law’s prohibition on certain kinds of technology to place robocalls includes “soundboard technology,” the use of a library of multiple short, prerecorded messages or sound clips to communicate with a called party, the complaint adds. Violations of the TCPA come with statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per call, according to the case. 

Citing a January 2020 Reuters special report, the lawsuit says Zeitlin companies admit to using scam PACs to pull in money because political action committees fall outside of the laws governing charity fundraising. Per the case, PACs’ activities “slip through the gaps among agencies that govern elections, charities and telemarketing.” 

The case, citing a PublicIntegrity.org report, relays that the alleged scheme run by Zeitlin and his companies relies upon complicit PAC treasurers to “turn a blind eye to their fiduciary duties” and sign off on inflated expenditures, or otherwise be actively engaged in the deceit. From the complaint: 

“In their Federal Election Commission filings, the Scam PACs report the donations and their ‘overhead expenditures and disbursements.’ 

Almost all of the ‘overhead expenditures and disbursements’ made by these Scam PACs are paid to the Zeitlin Companies and their complicit treasurers.

For example, from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020, the HALE PAC raised approximately $3,959,290.92.

From January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020, the HALE PAC paid Compliance Consultants LLC d/b/a American PCI Services, American Technology Services, LLC d/b/a Unlimited Tech Support and Unified Data Services, LLC d/b/a Cloud Data Services a total of $2,969,139.82, which amounted to 93.4% of HALE PAC’s operating expenditures ($3,178,406.23 total) for that period.” 

The lawsuit looks to represent all individuals nationwide to whose cell phone, from September 27, 2017 through the present, the defendants placed (or had placed on their behalf) a call through the use of any automatic dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice and said person had not previously provided express consent to receive such calls. 

The full complaint can be found below. 

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