Telemarketer Coughs Up a Porsche & Cash

(CN) - A Florida man will pay $655,000 and give up his Porsche to settle a Federal Trade Commission claim of large-scale telemarketing violations and consumer fraud. James Dunne and Voice Touch, of Daytona, a felon, was ordered never to work in telemarketing again.

Dunne will pay the $655,000 for work he did with Transcontinental Warranty, based in Fort Lauderdale.

Dunne also had an agreement with Wentzville, Mo. based U.S. Fidelis, an auto warranty dealer.

Dunne told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his company sent unsolicited calls to 1 billion homes, businesses and cell phones for U.S Fidelis between April 2007 and February 2008.

Just two months into the agreement, a U.S. Fidelis executive warned the company's president that Dunne's work appeared to violate federal law, the post-Dispatch reported. The company kept the arrangement for 8 more months, before switching to television advertising.

U.S. Fidelis collapsed late in 2009, laying off hundreds of workers, and stopped selling contracts. It filed for bankruptcy in March. The Missouri Attorney General's Office said it is investigating whether top executives looted the company.

Dunne will also have to turn over proceeds from the sale of a second home in Florida, a Porsche 911 and a Lexus sedan as part of the settlement.

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