By Kate E. Salute
The Web sites were shut down on Oct. 20. Augugliaro has no criminal record and is facing no criminal charges.
"It is a civil matter, and we will be seeking a court injunction and restitution," said Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. "We've heard from over 100 complainants, though we believe the number of injured parties is much greater than 100."
A lawsuit alleges that none of the money solicited by Augugliaro's Internet business, known as People Helping People, for a charitable organization called the American Cancer Aid Foundation, was ever donated to cancer prevention, but instead was pocketed by Augugliaro and his associates. In addition to the charge that contributions were stolen, consumers were told they would receive two free airline tickets, worth up to $1,600, with which they could fly anywhere in the world, but received nothing.
Other Web sites run by Augugliaro, which made similar offers of free airline tickets, included www.massmarketingprogram.com and www.jamvo.com. These sites allegedly marketed the tickets to businesses as a way to attract new customers. The suit claims that one of the thousands of people defrauded by the scams was a cancer patient who hoped to use the tickets to fly to a hospital for treatment.
According to the attorney general's office, the American Cancer Society, whose name is similar to the allegedly bogus American Cancer Aid Foundation, received complaints from contributors who were led to believe the organization owed them free airline tickets.
The American Cancer Society's Nassau regional vice president, Dee McCabe, said, "We immediately alerted the state attorney general's office, based on the inquiries and concerns from our volunteers, donors, staff members and the general public. The American Cancer Society, its volunteers and donors applaud the actions of the attorney general in bringing charges against these alleged scammers who preyed on the public under the guise of helping people with cancer and their families."
In addition to the charity scam charges, Agugliaro allegedly created www.Brixdale.com, a company that promoted a so-called "inverse mortgage" program. Consumers were promised that by allowing Brixdale to take control of the electronic transfers of their monthly mortgage payments, clients could not only pay off an entire 30-year mortgage in full, but could also easily make as much as $250,000, all in a matter of months. The lawsuit alleges that Brixdale is simply an illegal pyramid scheme, which survives by persuading participants to recruit more participants, while the promised economic benefits are never realized.
Augugliaro has been barred from operating the Internet business, and approximately $1 million in bank accounts held by him has been frozen.
