Documents shed more light on efforts to shield contributors to $11M voter initiative fight

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced his office has reached an agreement with the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association to unseal documents related to his campaign finance lawsuit.

Legislation to increase 45-year-old penalty from $100 to $500; enact $1,000 repeat-violator penalty

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Senate today approved Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s agency-request bill to increase transparency in government by enhancing penalties for violations of Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), in a unanimous 49-0 vote.

Lawsuit target duped homeowners into unnecessary $89 payments for deeds

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson prevailed today in his lawsuit against a California company that scammed new property owners into buying overpriced deeds.

Impacts include safety warnings, ingredients listing, restriction on sales
 

OLYMPIA — The Washington State House of Representatives today approved Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s agency-request bill to reduce youth access to vapor products, in a 59-36 vote.

Cautions outside agent charges one-third of claims recovery for a process consumer can do easily themselves for free

SEATTLE — The Washington State Attorney General’s Office (AGO) will soon launch a website for consumers to file claims for their share of the $63 million LCD recovery. In the meantime, the AGO cautions consumers that a third-party agent has set up a website to file claims on behalf of consumers, but will charge one-third of the recovery money to do so. When the AGO claims website goes live, consumers can file their own claims for free.

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s agency-request bills to combat Medicaid provider fraud by reauthorizing the state’s highly effective Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act (FCA) today unanimously passed the Senate, and passed the House 88 to 8.

Unscrupulous medical providers seek to profit from the state’s Medicaid program — performing unneeded tests, charging for services not provided, and otherwise defrauding and abusing the Medicaid system. 

5,000 Washington consumers may be affected
 

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced Moneygram Payment Systems, Inc. will pay $13 million to resolve a multi-state investigation into how Moneygram’s wire transfer service was used in schemes to defraud consumers.

The investigation focused on whether Moneygram falsely represented to consumers that it has a robust fraud prevention program when in fact it did not have adequate internal fraud prevention controls.

SEATTLE — A Richland florist who was ordered to stop discriminating against gay and lesbian customers seeking flowers for their weddings has filed her response brief before the Washington State Supreme Court.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson released the following statement regarding this latest brief:

OLYMPIA — Service Employees International Union Local 925 (SEIU 925) will pay the state $31,715 after an Attorney General’s Office lawsuit over its improper reporting of in-kind and cash campaign contributions.  The judgment includes costs, fees and civil penalties.

Sales suppression software hides cash transactions, allows users to steal sales tax

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed charges today against a Bellevue restaurant owner accused of using “sales suppression software” to hide cash transactions, pocketing nearly $395,000 in sales tax collected from her patrons.