Washington, DC – With deadlines for filing District and federal income taxes approaching, Attorney General Karl A. Racine today cautioned District residents to be on the lookout for fraudulent schemes common during tax season. In particular, he singled out “Six Scams to Avoid” for the 2016 tax season.

Statement of Loren L. AliKhan
Solicitor General of the District of Columbia

Hearing Before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee

February 25, 2020

Introduction

Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Feinstein, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to present the views of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia on the role of nationwide injunctions.

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that Equifax will pay up to $600 million in restitution and penalties to resolve an investigation by 50 Attorneys General into a massive 2017 data breach. The coalition, which includes 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, found evidence that Equifax’s failure to maintain reasonable security enabled hackers to access its systems and resulted in the largest-ever breach of consumer data.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for directly participating in decision-making that allowed the Cambridge Analytica data breach – the largest consumer privacy scandal in the nation’s history – while Facebook misled users with claims of privacy and data protection.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that he filed a notice of appeal in Purdue Pharma’s flawed bankruptcy plan. He asserted that the plan is inadequate, and that a bankruptcy court does not have the authority to prevent attorneys general from enforcing state law, including the decision to pursue the company’s owners, members of the Sackler family, for their illegal conduct. 

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general in an amicus brief to protect the District and its police department from federal funding cuts, supporting a challenge to the Trump administration’s efforts to punish so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions by putting immigration-related conditions on federal law enforcement grants.

WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that Arise Virtual Solutions, Inc. (Arise), a gig economy customer service company, will pay $3 million to customer service workers and the District to resolve an employee misclassification lawsuit.

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced today that the District of Columbia has joined 42 states in a $6 million settlement with Encore Capital Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Midland Credit Management, Inc. and Midland Funding, LLC (Midland) for using illegal tactics to collect unverified debts.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced an estimated $224,000 judgment in its lawsuit against Xquisite Basements & Kitchens, Inc., a home renovation contractor, and Newton Gaynor, its owner and operator, for providing illegal and incomplete construction work to District consumers and for failing to pay workers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that the District of Columbia has reached a settlement with Aetna, Inc., resolving a multi-state investigation into the company’s mishandling of protected health information and improper disclosures of patients’ HIV status. The multistate investigation found that Aetna revealed consumers’ HIV status by mailing notices in envelopes with large transparent windows that allowed the words “HIV Medications” to be seen in the enclosed document.