Whistleblower this week learned about two investigations that newly re-elected Attorney General Lori Swanson has a hand in. On Tuesday, the FBI raided a company on Greenway Road in Forest Lake called Alternate Billing Corp. as part of a probe into the hated practice of cramming, something Whistleblower readers have complained as recently as last week. The FBI then put out a public appeal for cramming victims on Thursday, urging people who think they've had unauthorized charges on their phone bills to report it to them or Swanson's office. Whistleblower couldn't reach anyone at Alternate Billing Corp. this week, but several Indiana media outlets say the raid has its origins in Indianapolis, where the local FBI office is digging into the dealings of a financier named Tim Durham.
The company behind the TV commercials promising to "solve your tax problems" now face some legal problems. On Thursday, Swanson filed a lawsuit against TaxMasters, a Texas company that she says promised people that it would cut their tax debts but didn't deliver. New rules prohibit conventional debt relief companies from charging up front fees, but companies that offer to reduce tax debts are so far exempt for those rules.
