Settlement For ‘Deceptive Emails’ Sent To Indiana Public Employees

By Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle

September 12, 2022

A Nevada-based company must stop soliciting Indiana public employees after allegedly sending deceptive emails offering financial consultations that actually attempted to sell additional products from a third party. Due to similar names, state employees may have believed that the emails came from a state-approved vendor.

Attorney General Todd Rokita alleged that PERA LLC sent more than 70,000 of the email solicitations in a Monday release, “giving the misleading impression that the communications came form the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) or an approved INPRS provider.”
The PERA acronym stands for Public Employee Retirement Assistance.

Following complaints from the Indiana Public Retirement System, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division investigated and eventually filed a lawsuit over the alleged misconduct, coming to an agreement earlier this month in which PERA admitted no wrongdoing.

“Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act protects Hoosiers from the very kind of misconduct that we have alleged in this case,” Rokita said in a Monday release. “Hoosiers should be able to trust that companies are providing accurate information in an aboveboard, honest, legal and straightforward manner.”

Under the agreement, PERA cannot solicit, sell or coordinate appointments/ discussions – or other similar communications – to public employees on behalf of or in connection with third-party financial companies in the State of Indiana for seven years.

In PERA’s emails, the company “offered to provide consultations with financial representatives” to discuss an employee’s personal retirement fund – but neither INPRS nor any approved INPRS provider had any affiliation with the emails. If a public employee agreed to the consultation, PERA sold the appointment to another vendor, who hawked various financial products.

PERA pledged to pay Indiana $7,500, with another $92,500 suspended on the condition that PERA comply with the seven-year agreement. Should PERA resume business in Indiana after seven years, the company must alert the Attorney General’s office.

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