Attorney General Bonta Secures Court Decision Denying Avid Telecom’s Attempts to Dismiss Robocalls Case

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the U.S. District Court in Arizona denied Avid Telecom's (Avid) attempts to dismiss and delay a bipartisan, 49-state lawsuit against the company and its owner, Michael D. Lansky, for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of unlawful robocalls in California and around the country. Those robocalls included Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, and employment scams; two robocall examples can be found here and here. Forty-nine attorneys general who are also members of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force sued Avid in May 2023.

"Robocalls recklessly interrupt people's busy days and cause Californians real financial damage every year," said Attorney General Bonta. "Avid Telecom was responsible for delivering not hundreds, or thousands, or millions of robocalls - but billions of robocalls, and will now have to take responsibility. My office stands ready to defend Californians against bad actors looking to exploit consumers."

Avid Telecom allegedly sent or attempted to transmit more than 24 billion scam calls in a four-year period about Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, auto warranty scams, Amazon scams, DIRECTV scams, credit card interest rate reduction scams, and employment scams. They continued transmitting these calls even after being notified at least 329 times that these illegal robocalls were being sent across their networks.

A copy of the order is available here.