Attorneys general from 49 U.S. states are suing telecommunications company Avid Telecom, claiming the firm is “initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls to millions of people.”
The lawsuit (pdf) was filed on May 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, where Avid Telecom is headquartered.
Defendants in the suit are listed as Avid Telecom, CEO Michael D. Lansky, and Vice President of Operations and Sales Stacey Reeves.
Attorneys general say the company, which advertises itself as a “leading voice solutions provider,” has made roughly 7.5 billion robocalls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry in the United States since 2019, in violation of multiple telemarketing laws.
“Every day, millions of American consumers receive a barrage of unwanted robocalls that are harassing, annoying, threatening, and malicious,” the 49 attorneys general wrote in the lawsuit. “These calls are all scams designed to scare and harm consumers. Other robocalls may not be scams but are harassing, abusive, and illegal, nonetheless,” they wrote.
The lawsuit noted that illegal robocalls are the most common contact method used by scammers, with consumers reporting losing more than $692 million to such scams in 2021 alone.
According to the attorneys general, Avid Telecom received more than 320 notifications about illegal robocalls before the lawsuit was filed.
“Despite receiving these 329 notifications, and despite receiving additional letters and correspondence from the ITG [the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group] about needing to improve Avid Telecom’s traffic screening procedures, week after week Defendants chose profit over running a business that conforms to state and federal law,” they wrote.
“Defendants could have chosen to implement effective and meaningful procedures to prevent—or even significantly mitigate—the perpetration of illegal behavior onto and across Avid Telecom’s network but chose not to do so,” they added.
Invalid Caller IDs, Scams
The lawsuit goes on to accuse Avid Telecom of knowingly allowing telemarketers or sellers to transmit robocalls across the company’s network and using Avid Telecom’s services to send call traffic that violated federal and state laws.
It further accuses the defendants of having provided “substantial assistance” to robocallers and having “facilitated the transmission and eventual delivery of millions of prerecorded telephone calls to residents in the Plaintiffs’ respective jurisdictions,” during which material aspects of goods or services were misrepresented.
During some calls, Avid Telecom used invalid caller ID numbers to make it appear as though the calls were coming from government entities or from affiliates of various corporations, they said.
Specifically, since 2019, Avid Telecom used invalid caller ID numbers for more than 8.4 million calls that appeared to be coming from government and law enforcement agencies, as well as private companies, according to the lawsuit.
“These unlawful calls sent by Avid included Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, auto warranty scams, Amazon scams, DirecTV scams, and credit card interest rate reduction scams,” the attorneys wrote.
Employees at the company also made “false or misleading statements” to induce individuals to pay for goods or services, according to the lawsuit.
Overall, Avid made or attempted to make more than 24.5 billion calls between December 2018 and January 2023, according to the lawsuit, of which more than 90 percent of those calls lasted less than 15 seconds, suggesting they were likely robocalls.
The lawsuit alleges Lansky and Reeves violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and a string of other federal and state telemarketing and consumer laws.
Avid Denies Unlawful Behavior
The attorneys general are asking the court to enjoin Avid from conducting telemarketing activities that violate the TSR and to enforce compliance with the TSR. They are also seeking to obtain damages, restitution, and other compensation on behalf of residents.
In a press release Tuesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said nearly 197 million of the robocalls allegedly initiated and facilitated by Avid Telecom between December 2018 and January 2023 were made to phone numbers in the state.
“Every day, countless Arizona consumers are harassed and annoyed by a relentless barrage of unwanted robocalls – and in some instances these illegal calls threaten consumers with lawsuits and arrest,” Mayes said. “More disturbingly, many of these calls are scams designed to pressure frightened consumers, often senior citizens, into handing over their hard-earned money.”
Responding to the lawsuit in a statement to FOX 5 DC, Avid Telecom said the complaint is “predicated on factual allegations that the Attorneys’ General know, or should know, cannot be sustained as a matter of fact and which do not support the legal claims presented.”
“Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Avid Telecom operates in a manner that is compliant with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. The company has never been found by any court or regulatory authority to have transmitted unlawful traffic and it is prepared to meet with the Attorneys General, as it has on many occasions in the past, to further demonstrate its good faith and lawful conduct,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“In this context, the company is disappointed that the Attorneys General chose not to communicate their concerns directly before filing the lawsuit. While the company always prefers to work with regulators and law enforcement to address issues of concern, as necessary, the company will defend itself vigorously and vindicate its rights and reputation through the legal process,” the spokesperson added.
The Epoch Times has contacted Avid Telecom for further comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
