Victims Received $12 Million in Speculator Scam Represented by HGTV Stars

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is distributing $12 million in payments to customers involved in a real estate scam operated by Zurixx, LLC, according to reports released this week.

According to the FTC, more than 25,000 clients paid Zurixx, a real estate investment advisory firm, for advice endorsed by real estate television personalities. The government alleged that the company made empty promises about reselling or wholesaling properties for profit.

The FTC listed Tarek and Christina El Moussa, Hilary Farr, Peter Souhleris and David Seymour as celebrities who boosted Zurixx sales.

“It is illegal to prey on struggling Americans with promises of quick and easy riches,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We urge consumers to stop and evaluate the facts behind any promise of profit before investing their hard-earned money.”

The Utah Department of Commerce’s Consumer Protection Division and the FTC sued Zurixx and its owners, Christopher Cannon, James Carlson and Jeffrey Spangler, in September 2019.

The agencies that filed the complaint alleged that the owners of Zurixx and numerous associated companies sold live seminars and telephone coaching using misleading income statements. They convinced customers to spend thousands of dollars using celebrity endorsements and contract clauses that limited consumers’ ability to evaluate their products or speak to law enforcement.

Celebrities allegedly invited clients to free “seminars” that were actually sales events for paid seminars costing nearly $2,000. Seminar presenters encouraged attendees to sign up for new credit cards, promising that profits from home resales would pay off the new credit card debt, according to a 2022 FTC statement.

In February 2022, the defendants agreed to a settlement, including $12 million to be refunded to customers and more than $111 million in monetary judgments, $104.7 million against Zurixx and other corporate defendants, and $2.33 million against Zurixx’s owners.

Zurixx was prohibited from marketing and selling real estate or business coaching programs. The company was also prohibited from violating the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule and Utah’s Business Opportunity Disclosure and Telephony Acts.

“Many victims will finally get justice,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a statement. “Having these actors permanently removed from the coaching world is an important victory for Utah. We hope this serves as a warning to others who might consider running similar schemes based on false tax returns.”

To help customers learn more about their FTC refunds, the FTC has provided this FAQ resource.