The assets of Eagle Promotions Inc., a Hackensack, NJ-based direct mail sweepstakes promoter, have been frozen by U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise.
The judge, who sits in Newark, NJ, issued the order that also allows postal inspectors to seize all of its mail, after a lawsuit alleging civil fraud was filed against the firm by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on behalf of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
According to that suit, the company, which uses 13 trade names, including Award Notification Center, National Sweepstakes Audit Center, International Monitorings Services and U.S. Entitlement Service, mailed millions of sweepstakes promotions nationally. It told recipients they could win cash prizes of up to $15,000 if they paid processing fees ranging from $9.95 to $20.
The lawsuit alleges that the firm, receiving some 3,000 responses a day, never paid out any prize money and occasionally sent respondents discount coupons.
James Bierman, the firm’s owner, could not be reached for comment at deadline.
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