On September 1, 2009, new FTC rules went into effect prohibiting most prerecorded telemarketing calls, commonly known as robocalls . The Committee for Police Officers Defense is run by James J. Fotis, who is a retired New York Police officer, who ran unsuccessfully in 2007 for Sheriff of Manassas City / Manassas Park City / Prince William County. At Politicause, for instance, some said they initially were told to say donations would be used to help buy new police and fire equipment. In interviews, a dozen former employees of Politicause and Zeitlins TPFE described techniques they used to wrangle donations, leaving contributors with the impression they were giving to good causes. Add 64.1204 to subpart L to read as follows: (a) Any private entity may submit to the Enforcement Bureau information related to a call made or a text message sent that the private entity has reason to believe was in violation of 64.1200(a) or 47 U.S.C. documents in the last year, by the Coast Guard Caller name: Committee for Police Officer's Defense. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters. Ultimately, changes must come at the federal level, said Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat who chairs the Federal Election Commission. We are appalled and condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms and have communicated that to RAGA. edition of the Federal Register. Reuters interviewed a dozen donors to PACs in the informal network. daniel.stepanicich@fcc.gov. Cherokee Nation Businesses does not condone these actions and strongly condemns the insurrectionists and all those who instigated the disruption of the federal government through their words and actions.. Organizationally and individually, we strongly condemn and disavow the events which occurred., One of its members, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, attended the rally and spoke to the crowd, saying, We will not quit fighting., Following the Capitol invasion, he tweeted, I am sorely disappointed today in the certification of the election, but I dont believe violence is the answer.. The "Committee for Police Officer's Defense" (CPOD) was configured to help police officers fight against the continuing "War on Cops" by taking a varied political stance against politicians, activist judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and a host of others who try to bring police officers down by any means. 2. It is further ordered If you are using public inspection listings for legal research, you This repetition of headings to form internal navigation links Search the Legal Library instead. documents in the last year, 86 informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal While every effort has been made to ensure that Definition of Private Entity. Congress did not define private entity in the TRACED Act. We agree with commenters that including individuals within the definition of private entity would undermine the intent of the statute to streamline information collection about robocalls and spoofed calls, and would create confusion for consumers about whether to use the existing informal complaint process or the new portal, or both. Timely and thorough information from private entities is crucial to enable the Commission to mitigate illegal robocall incidents and bring swift enforcement actions. As his office pursued the money trail in the Bass investigation, for instance, Friedman said it came across an organization called Market Process Group, one of the eight fundraisers examined by Reuters. Rather, they and their fundraisers present the PACs as charities, suggesting they support veterans, firefighters or victims of deadly diseases, for instance. Our PAC contributions to both the Republican and Democratic Attorneys General associations were used strictly for attorneys generals campaign purposes, the spokesperson said in a statement. Open for Comment, Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions, Economic Sanctions & Foreign Assets Control, Fisheries of the Northeastern United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, PART 64MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS, https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2021-14711, MODS: Government Publishing Office metadata, https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/06171386503472/FCC-21-75A3.pdf. 20-374, FCC-21-75, adopted and released on June 17, 2021. I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this weeks rally, said Marshall, who assumed his role Nov. 10. These so-called scam PACs and their fundraisers exploit the gray zone between U.S. election finance and state charity fundraising laws, regulators told Reuters. Robocallers have apparently been using the name of a former Abilene City Councilman/Abilene businessman to try to entice people to give to a fake police charity. better and aid in comparing the online edition to the print edition. . 7. (Super PACs are a type of political action committee that faces no limits on spending or contributions, by virtue of court decisions a decade ago.). Start Printed Page 52841 In addition, public entities often contact Enforcement Bureau staff directly about robocalling and spoofing matters. Weintraub and a fellow Democratic commissioner wrote a memo to that effect in 2016. These tools are designed to help you understand the official document New Documents Another enforcement action relied extensively on information from an industry group, the USTelecom's Industry Traceback Group (Traceback Group). Demonstrators attempt to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. on Jan. 8, 2021, 5:36 PM PST. A Rule by the Federal Communications Commission on 09/23/2021. To request material in accessible formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission proposes to amend 47 CFR parts 0 and 64 as follows: 1. Its a sink or swim environment. The fundraiser paid $11.6 million by PACs, including Bass operations, since 2017 listed an address in FEC documents that was a mail drop business in Washington D.C.Contract information subpoenaed by investigators and seen by Reuters ties Market Process Group to firms controlled by Mark Gelvan, a New Jersey-based fundraiser.Included were a phone number used by another Gelvan firm, Outreach Calling, an address used by his operation in Montville, New Jersey, and an email linked to another Gelvan company. Those two fundraising firms, whose ownership is not clear, dissolved Pledge Assistance in July 2018 and Politicause in June 2019, according to Wyoming records. First, we find that interpreting the term to exclude individual consumers from the definition of private entity is consistent with Congress's other uses of that term and similar terms. ". Federal campaign records tell part of the story. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal government site. has no substantive legal effect. a copy of this Report and Order Rulemaking, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, in a report to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. We agree with the commenters and therefore exclude individual natural persons from the definition of private entity. fcc504@fcc.gov Its the only thing in life Ive ever been (expletive) good at, said Armstrong, who records show has theft and drug convictions. The portal will collect contact information of the reporting entity, information about the suspected illegal robocall, and a description of the robocall incident. But because that suggested donors were contributing directly to purchasing new gear, the callers said they were told by managers to adjust their language. 14. The rules we adopt today create a streamlined process by which a private entity may submit information about suspected robocall and spoofing violations directly to the Bureau via an online portal located on the FCC website. The Police Officers' Defense Coalition was developed in consort with the Committee for Police Officers' Defense in order to help police officers, public safety officers, sheriffs, and all those who represent the law enforcement community fight against the "War on C ops". Instead, the new portal will be integrated with, but distinct from, the existing consumer complaint process. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau uses this The FTC declined to comment. e.g., 13. Many companies that donated to the Republican Attorneys General Association also gave to the Democratic Party equivalent. Use of the portal is completely voluntary and we impose no new requirements on small businesses. information to inform Commission consumer protection policies as well as for analytical and consumer education purposes. Police officers defense back. We also have a process for obtaining information from certain public entities: Federal and state law enforcement agencies routinely coordinate with the Enforcement Bureau about robocall and caller ID spoofing enforcement and mitigation efforts. Reached for comment, the Chamber of Commerce provided a statement from Harold Kim, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Jul 10, 2020, 08:10 ET. shall send The data in turn informs the Commission's policy work, serves as a deterrent to companies the Commission regulates and contributes to consumer protection efforts. And, as he has been saying since moments after seeing news break, the violence and destruction we saw at the U.S. Capitol is unacceptable and un-American.. that parts 0 and 64 of the Commission's rules This PDF is The FRFA is set forth in Appendix C. 18. One Piaro committee, Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer, garnered $1.6 million in donations through Zeitlins fundraising operations and made one charitable contribution, $10,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation less than 1% of the total raised, campaign filings show. For further information, contact Daniel Stepanicich, Attorney, Telecommunications Consumers Division, Enforcement Bureau, at (202) 418-7451 or Congress adopted the requirement to create a streamlined process to collect information about robocalls and spoofing against the backdrop of the existing informal consumer complaint process. Once submitted, the Bureau will review to determine whether the information presents evidence of a violation of our rules. OMB, the general public, and other Federal agencies will be invited to comment on the new or modified information collection requirements contained in this proceeding. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML This site displays a prototype of a Web 2.0 version of the daily Some of the workers for TPFE also had felony convictions, according to several former callers and court records. Caller type: Scammer/Fraudster. documents in the last year, 822 Black's Law Dictionary defines public entity as a governmental entity, such as a state government or one of its political subdivisions. At least one statute, the Americans with Disabilities Act, defines public entity as any state or local government and any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.. Authority delegations (Government agencies). corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. 22. Quoting from its website, the "Committee for Police Officers' Defense is a 527 Committee designed to seek out radical prosecutors, judges and district attorneys." Another organization is. The authority citation for part 0 continues to read as follows: Authority: That process is a well-established one that consumers have come to understand and depend upon. Jessica Blanchard, 23, who worked at Politicause in 2018, said many callers either were addicts from halfway houses or jail inmates on work release. We agree with comments expressing the importance of vetting submitted information and protecting confidentiality. The site has since been taken down. Appendix A, the current document as it appeared on Public Inspection on Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format. Fundraisers are seeing this is just another easy way to make a buck.. We released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( shall be effective Private entity submissions of spoofing violations. The President of the United States issues other types of documents, including but not limited to; memoranda, notices, determinations, letters, messages, and orders. Reuters gains rare access into the world of fundraising for these charitable-sounding political action committees, a tiny but profitable niche in the U.S. telemarketing industry. Neither he nor other officials at his company returned requests for comment. That goal is to help police officers fight against the continuing "War on Cops" by taking a varied political stance against politicians, activist judges, prosecutors, district attorneys and a host of others who try to bring police officers down by any means. JoAnn Coleman, 63, a construction engineer from Gaithersburg, Maryland, said she was particularly vulnerable to a pitch for the breast cancer PAC. a phone number), the caller ID information displayed, the phone number(s) called, the date(s) and time(s) of the relevant calls or texts, the name of the reporting private entity's service provider, and a description of the problematic calls or texts. We adopt rules to establish an online web portal where private entities may submit information about suspected violations of sections 227(b) and 227(e). Few other top officers at these fundraising firms and PACS would speak to Reuters on the record.