Robocallers now facing contempt charges

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COLUMBUS – One of the co-owners of a shuttered robocall business is facing contempt charges for defying a court order prohibiting him from placing or facilitating robocalls, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and seven other state attorneys general announced on Thursday.

Yost and his counterparts are asking a federal judge in Texas to find John Spiller II in contempt and impose the strictest penalty possible – a complete ban from the telecommunications industry. Spiller co-owned Rising Eagle Capital Group and several other business entities in Texas that provided dialer and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services to telemarketers. Despite knowing the illegal nature of the robocalls, Spiller and his companies were responsible for facilitating billions of deceptive robocalls.

“This guy is a recidivist robocaller and a notorious name in the robocall industry,” Yost said. “It’s time to sever his phone lines for good.”

The contempt charges stem from a June 2020 lawsuit accusing Rising Eagle and its owners of unlawfully bombarding consumers with robocalls that offered extended car warranties and health-care services.

As part of a consent decree negotiated in March 2023, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas imposed a judgment totaling over $122 million against Spiller and his business partner. Because neither could afford to pay, however, both were permanently banned from initiating or facilitating any robocalls, working for or with companies that make robocalls, or engaging in any telemarketing.

The latest court filing accuses Spiller of violating the terms of the consent decree by forming new VoIP companies through which he continued to facilitate illegal and scam robocalls. Those robocalls included Amazon scam calls, student loan-related robocalls, and government impersonation calls, among others.

Spiller used aliases and falsified business records filed in various states and with the Federal Communications Commission to continue doing this illegal business.

In addition to asking the court to find Spiller in contempt, the attorneys general are requesting that he be permanently banned from operating as a telecommunications service provider.

Joining Yost in the legal filing were the attorneys general of Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas.