Announcements, information & updates from the Attorney General Alliance Members and Associates
September 9, 2022
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Attorney General Alliance and Coinbase's Global Intelligence team are pleased to offer a 90-minute training session on cryptocurrency investigations.
All attorney general staff and cybersecurity working group members are welcome to register for this webinar.
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Western Attorneys General Litigation Action Committee meeting on October 17-18, 2022 at the Westin San Diego.
In addition to the roundtable discussion of natural resource, environmental, and Indian law cases, there will be a legal seminar.
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The ORC Working Group will be holding an AG/staff only law enforcement training in Nashville, Tennessee on October 23-24, 2022.
Following the closed AG/AG Staff-only legal training on October 24th, the Seminar will conclude with a closing dinner for all ORC Working Group members.
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Raising Consumer Awareness About the
Dangers of Illegal Gambling During
Responsible Gaming Education Month
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September is Responsible Gaming Education Month. The Attorney General Alliance (AGA) in partnership with the American Gaming Association and others across the industry applaud the efforts and undertakings of all who promote gaming literacy and consumer education, elevate employee training, and encourage responsible gambling. A key area of focus in 2022 is educating the public regarding the threats presented by illegal and unregulated gambling, which remains widely accessible across the country in several different forms.
We encourage State Attorneys General to aid in this effort by issuing consumer alerts to inform citizens in their states about the risks associated with gambling through illegal and unregulated channels. As the chief law enforcement officers of their state, Attorneys General can use their credible voices to draw attention and awareness to this significant problem.
We all agree education is essential to promoting responsible play and increasing awareness of gambling disorders. Please join us in highlighting the opportunities available from the American Gaming Association in a united effort to address responsible gaming.
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The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorneys General community Investigate and prosecute fraud committed by Medicaid providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, care facilities, laboratories, doctors, dentists, nurses, personal care providers, and therapists. They conduct investigations into billing for services not rendered, billing for a higher level of service than provided, fraudulent prescriptions for dangerous opioids and narcotics, and whistleblower actions brought by an individual on behalf of the government. How Medicaid providers commit fraud is constantly evolving and the Unit must adjust accordingly to protect the system that helps so many consumers. Medicaid Fraud Units also investigate and prosecute abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation against residents in facilities, including assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Below are stories from the Attorneys General across the AG Community.
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Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led a bipartisan group of states in providing comments commending the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed improvements to the 90/10 Rule following a months-long negotiated rulemaking process aimed at reaching new regulatory proposals to prohibit for-profit schools from receiving more than 90 percent of their revenue from federal student aid. The comments also call on the Department to adopt stronger regulations to protect borrowers from the perils of improper conversions by for-profit schools to nonprofit status.
The letter also includes recommendations to strengthen protections against improper revenue-sharing between converted nonprofit institutions and former owners or affiliated entities, and to reconsider regulations that would reduce the threshold for what automatically constitutes a change of ownership requiring Departmental review.
The bipartisan letter, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, is also joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced a $438.5 million agreement between JUUL Labs and 34 states and territories resolving a two-year bipartisan investigation into the e-cigarette manufacturer’s marketing and sales practices. In addition to the financial terms, the settlement forces them to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms severely limiting their marketing and sales practices.
The investigation further revealed that the original packaging was misleading and did not clearly disclose that it contained nicotine and implied that it contained a lower concentration of nicotine than it did. Consumers were also misled to believe that consuming one pod was the equivalent of smoking one pack of combustible cigarettes. The company also misrepresented that its product was a smoking cessation device without FDA approval to make such claims.
The states are in the process of finalizing and executing the settlement documents, a process that takes approximately 3-4 weeks. The $438.5 million would be paid out over a period of six to ten years, with the amounts paid increasing the longer the company takes to make the payments. If the company chooses to extend the payment period up to ten years, the final settlement would reach $476.6 million.
The investigation was led by Connecticut, Texas, and Oregon, and joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
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ATTORNEY GENERAL HIGHLIGHT |
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Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in as Tennessee’s 28th Attorney General on September 1, 2022, at a private ceremony attended by his immediate family.
Attorney General Skrmetti was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to serve an eight-year term on August 10, 2022. Tennessee is the only state where the Supreme Court selects the Attorney General.
Prior to his appointment, Attorney General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General. Before his work on behalf of the State of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis and served as a federal prosecutor for almost a decade, first at the Civil Rights Division and then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Memphis. He also taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
Attorney General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He and his wife and four children currently reside in Franklin and attend Harpeth Hills Church of Christ.
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“It is the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of Tennessee as their Attorney General and Reporter. I look forward to promoting the rule of law and advocating for the rights and freedoms of all Tennesseans.”
-- Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti
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AGA Sponsor Amazon is working with its partners and Attorney General Lynn Fitch in Jackson, Mississippi, to get clean drinking water to residents affected by the city’s recent flooding.
Flooding along the Pearl River has left most people in Jackson, Mississippi, without access to drinking water, so Amazon’s Disaster Relief team is sending 326,000 bottles of drinkable water to affected communities.
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Missed our live programs? No problem! Follow the button below to visit our Virtual Seminar Library for access to all recordings.
Do you have a webinar topic suggestion? We want to hear from you! Please email ideas to Patricia Salazar at PSalazar@AGAlliance.org.
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CWAG Executive Committee
AG Alliance Co-Chairs
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Attorney General Alliance 5050 | Laguna Blvd., Ste. 112-323 | Elk Grove, CA 95758
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