Baltimore City is suing a global internet marketing and supplements company, alleging that it targets people, especially the elderly, with deceptive business practices.
City leaders say Baltimore-based Agora Companies lured in customers with deceptive advertising about health supplements and financial advice, and then used “illegal tactics to entrap and retain consumers.”
The city claims the company would then push more expensive products that were difficult to cancel.
The lawsuit asks a judge to order civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day for each violation of Baltimore’s Consumer Protection Ordinance.
“The City of Baltimore is taking a stand today, making it clear that we will enforce the rule of law to safeguard our residents from the alleged harms deployed by Agora,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated. “It is my hope that these protections will prevent further harm in communities across the nation. This predatory cycle of exploitation ends here.”
Agora produces and markets more than 300 publications each year, but the lawsuit says the company’s advertisements used across various web platforms “falsely promise that, among other things, ‘Trump is about to unlock a ‘$150 trillion endowment hidden in federal lands;’ that a ‘Nobel Prize-winning discovery has led to a [cancer] treatment with zero side effects, NO CHEMO needed,’ and success stories with complete reversals.”
“The people of Baltimore deserve to be free from schemes that misinform, entrap, and harm our communities and constituents,” Baltimore City Solicitor Ebony Thompson said. “No business, no matter its size, is above the law.”
Agora Companies responds
Agora responded to the lawsuit, saying in part, they are “stunned by the filing of the lawsuit and are prepared to defend the case vigorously.”
“As a 47-year Baltimore company, we would have expected to have heard about any concerns from the City earlier than the filing of a lawsuit, given our long history as a Baltimore business and employer,” an Agora spokesperson stated. “We are still digesting the complaint, but we already see significant constitutional problems with the allegations – including under the First Amendment – and we are prepared to defend this case vigorously.”
More from CBS News