AP: Pre-Paid Legal to Pay $7,000

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A company that offers pre-paid legal protection has agreed to pay $7,000 over claims that it violated Wyoming’s multilevel marketing law.

Ada, Okla.- based Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., has not admitted violating the law but has pledged to stop promising easy income for people who join its multilevel marketing plan.

Pre-Paid Legal is one of the nation’s largest promoters of prepaid legal service plans. Its salespeople earn commissions on both sales and recruitment of additional participants.

“When we discovered the Pre-Paid Legal was using income representations to promote their program, we warned them that they were prohibited by law,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Chris Petrie.

Even then the company added information to its Web site that is prohibited under state law, he said. The material since has been removed. (Source: Associated Press, Monday, December 3, 2001)