January 14, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a bipartisan multistate coalition in appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging Facebook's illegal, anticompetitive behavior. In December 2020, California joined 47 state attorneys general in arguing that Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp was part of a broad buy-or-bury strategy designed to thwart competition at the expense of both users and advertisers. In their complaint, the coalition alleged that Facebook's monopolistic behavior violated federal antitrust laws, resulting in less user choice, reduced product quality, and degraded privacy protections. “Facebook is a monopolist. The company has made [...]

January 14, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), secured a court order instituting a lifetime ban against Martin Shkreli, the mastermind of a scheme to stifle competition of the lifesaving drug Daraprim. Attorney General Bonta applauded the decision today by a federal district court in New York to permanently ban Shkreli, also known as the “Pharma Bro,” from working in the pharmaceutical industry. Such relief ensures Shkreli will not be able to implement similar anticompetitive schemes in the future. In [...]

January 13, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govVISALIA – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the arrest of multiple members of the Sureño criminal street gang for their involvement in the 2020 murders of three teenagers at a local high school in Visalia. In July 2021, the Visalia Police Department requested assistance from the California Department of Justice's (DOJ) Special Operations Unit (SOU) with its investigation into the triple homicide. The investigation also uncovered a drug and firearm trafficking ring run by members and associates of the Sureños. Today, the SOU, the Visalia Police Department, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department, the [...]

January 13, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govSettlement includes $95 million in nationwide restitution for federal student loan borrowers and additional private student loan debt cancellation OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a multistate settlement against Navient, one of the largest student loan servicers in the country, to resolve allegations of misconduct in the servicing and collection of federal student loans. The settlement includes $95 million in restitution for student loan borrowers and $1.7 billion in private student loan debt cancellation, including $11.5 million in direct restitution and approximately $261 million in debt cancellation for California borrowers. Many of [...]

January 12, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govFiles lawsuit against Aliera and the Moses Family, the owners and operators of Sharity OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a lawsuit against The Aliera Companies (Aliera) and the Moses family – the family that founded Sharity Ministries, Inc. (formerly called Trinity Healthshare, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation that purported to be a health care sharing ministry (HCSM). Aliera, a for-profit corporation, created, operated, and sold unauthorized health plans and insurance through Sharity/Trinity, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly premiums from thousands of Californians and others throughout the country. However, rather than [...]

January 11, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govUrges businesses and members of the public across California to use available resources to help combat human trafficking OAKLAND – As part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today highlighted resources available to businesses and members of the public to help combat human trafficking and support survivors. California law requires certain businesses and establishments to post notices that provide information and resources for survivors and the public regarding human trafficking. The Attorney General urges businesses and members of the public across the state to use these resources to help federal, [...]

January 10, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a bipartisan multistate coalition, urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take swift action to stop the flood of illegal foreign-based robocalls that “spoof” U.S. phone numbers by imposing additional obligations on the U.S.-based telecom companies that first receive such calls. Illegal and unwanted robocalls harm consumers and interrupt their daily lives. According to the FCC, the majority of robocall scams are perpetuated by foreign actors who gain access to the U.S. phone network through “gateway providers,” which are U.S.-based telecom companies that allow [...]

January 10, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today agreed not to object to a settlement between Providence St. Joseph Health (Providence) and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Hoag) that will lead to the disaffiliation of the two hospital systems. The settlement will allow Hoag to become an independent entity, and as part of the agreement, Hoag has committed to expand reproductive health services in Orange County. The Attorney General's Office was not a party to the settlement. However, the finalization of the settlement was contingent on any objections from the California Department of Justice. “In a time [...]

January 8, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a price gouging alert following Governor Gavin Newsom's Executive Order prohibiting price gouging of at-home COVID-19 test kits. “The Omicron variant has reached California and communities across our state are working to combat this public health threat,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Californians are doing their part to confront this challenge – whether by caring for loved ones, getting vaccinated, or working on the front lines – and they shouldn't have to worry about being cheated while dealing with the effects of coronavirus. The Governor's newest [...]

January 6, 2022Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.govOAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a decision by the Lake County Superior Court vacating Lake County's approval of the proposed Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development (Guenoc Valley) Project. In today's decision, Lake County Superior Court found that approval of the Guenoc Valley Project was based on an inadequate environmental review that failed to consider the Project's impact on the surrounding community's emergency evacuation routes in the event of wildfire in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act. “Today's decision by the Superior Court affirms a basic fact: Local governments and developers [...]