Planned U.S. Senate bill would help FTC fight deception, fraud By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, will introduce laws this week to revive authority that the Federal Commerce Fee misplaced when the Supreme Courtroom dominated final 12 months that it overstepped in combating deception and fraud.

If it turns into regulation, the invoice would make it simpler for the FTC, which additionally enforces antitrust regulation, to sue misleading corporations and scammers to get better the cash that they took from shoppers, Cantwell’s workplace stated in a press release on Monday.

The FTC had been suing corporations and scammers for many years to get better ill-gotten features however was stopped in April 2021 by the Supreme Courtroom, which discovered that the company went additional than it might legally in its follow of in search of court docket orders to make fraudsters return cash.

Given the court docket determination, the FTC wants Congress to expressly give it authority to demand disgorgement of ill-gotten features. The Home of Representatives handed related laws final 12 months.

Enterprise teams had complained that the FTC aggressively extracted billions of {dollars} in financial awards from corporations lately.

“If the FTC stays disarmed of this essential authority, tens of millions of shoppers and small companies who’ve been scammed, swindled, or locked out of aggressive marketplaces won’t ever be made entire,” Cantwell stated in a press release. The senator additionally launched a committee report back to assist the necessity for the laws.

The laws that Cantwell will introduce will authorize reduction for shoppers harm by violations of shopper safety regulation, her workplace stated in a press release. It additionally would put a 10-year statute of limitations on lawsuits, the assertion stated.