After filing a lawsuit over alleged misconduct, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has secured an agreement from a Nevada-based company to cease solicitations to Indiana public employees.
Rokita
Rokita alleged that PERA LLC sent more than 70,000 deceptive email solicitations to Indiana public employees giving the misleading impression that the communications came from the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) or an approved INPRS provider. PERA is an acronym for Public Employee Retirement Assistance.
“Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act protects Hoosiers from the very kind of misconduct that we have alleged in this case,” Rokita said. “Hoosiers should be able to trust that companies are providing accurate information in an aboveboard, honest, legal and straightforward manner.”
Under the agreement, PERA admits to no wrongdoing – but it relinquishes its ability for seven years to solicit, sell or coordinate appointments, discussions, or other similar communications to public employees on behalf of, or in connection with, third-party financial representatives in the State of Indiana.
In the emails sent to public employees, PERA offered to provide consultations with financial representatives to discuss each employee’s personal retirement fund. Whenever a public employee agreed to the consultation, PERA then sold the appointment to a seller of various financial products.
Neither INPRS nor any approved INPRS provider had anything to do with the emails.
In the agreement, PERA pledged to pay a $7,500 penalty to the State of Indiana, with an additional $92,500 penalty suspended conditioned on compliance with the consent judgment. If PERA chooses to resume such business in Indiana after seven years, it must advise the Attorney General of its intention to do so.
Rokita’s Consumer Protection Division investigated this matter after receiving complaints from the Indiana Public Retirement System.