WASHINGTON-Richard Basile, president of On Line Communications, a Las Vegas-based paging applications mill, reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to return nearly $40,000 in funds to the commission for consumer redress; in return, all litigation against him has been ended.
Basile and silent partner Robert Corey were charged with bilking investors out of fees ranging from $5,990 to $12,900 to process paging applications; clients were told that licenses would be sold or leased to other carriers at a profit. According to FTC paperwork, “The defendants charged investors … based on claims that the licenses are valuable, that investors will receive multiple offers by paging companies … and that investors won’t have to put up additional money to construct the systems.”
Because of the shared nature of paging channels, the FTC said that investors were unlikely to make any money unless they built networks themselves, and that On Line committed fraud.
In the future, Basile will be prohibited from engaging in any false representation of investment offers, specifically those related to Federal Communications Commission licenses. He also has agreed not to allow his name to be used in any telemarketing venture unless he reviews all ad and script materials; his activities will continue to be monitored by the FTC.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada entered a default judgment against On Line Communications for $817,130 because the company and partner Corey failed to address FTC charges.
