A lawsuit in December didn't stop them, so the Iowa attorney general has gone back to court, trying to close down some Quad Cities businesses. They're suspected of cheating small businesses across the country.
The new lawsuit targets Alphonso Barnum of Davenport, plus his wife, his mother, and some limited liability corporations.
Attorney general spokesman Lynn Hicks says they targeted small businesses, like restaurants and insurance agents, selling them advertising on posters and calendars, often for local high school teams. But then never delivered anything.
"We know of one example of a business owner in Illinois who had 50,000 dollars taken from his business account. We have several other cases where people lost thousands of dollars."
And even after the December lawsuit, he says, the defendants continued cheating small businesses using different names, trying to avoid detection.
Hicks says they've heard from victims in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Idaho, and Michigan.
