Please try another search
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) attends a Senate Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 6, 2021. Picture taken October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, will introduce legislation this week to restore authority that the Federal Trade Commission lost when the Supreme Court ruled last year that it overstepped in fighting deception and fraud.
If it becomes law, the bill would make it easier for the FTC, which also enforces antitrust law, to sue deceptive companies and scammers to recover the money that they took from consumers, Cantwell's office said in a statement on Monday.
The FTC had been suing companies and scammers for decades to recover ill-gotten gains but was stopped in April 2021 by the Supreme Court, which found that the agency went further than it could legally in its practice of seeking court orders to make fraudsters return money.
Given the court decision, the FTC needs Congress to expressly give it authority to demand disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation last year.
Business groups had complained that the FTC aggressively extracted billions of dollars in monetary awards from companies in recent years.
"If the FTC remains disarmed of this critical authority, millions of consumers and small businesses who’ve been scammed, swindled, or locked out of competitive marketplaces will never be made whole," Cantwell said in a statement. The senator also released a committee report to support the need for the legislation.
The legislation that Cantwell will introduce will authorize relief for consumers hurt by violations of consumer protection law, her office said in a statement. It also would put a 10-year statute of limitations on lawsuits, the statement said.
By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON -New Zealand's business confidence continued to worsen in the second quarter of this year as companies grappled with increased costs and higher interest...
By Jorge Otaola and Nicolas Delame BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina's new economy minister Silvina Batakis was sworn in on Monday and quickly moved to calm markets that slid...
By Julie Gordon and Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) -Consumer inflation expectations surged in Canada, hitting fresh highs in the short-term and up "significantly" over the...
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.