VERMONT ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES PATENT TROLL FIRM MANAGED BY ATTORNEY FOR ADVANCE FEE FRAUDSTER

The Attorney General of the State of Vermont has brought a Deceptive Practices action against a company that is known to be managed by Jay Mac Rust, the Texas attorney for the notorious advance fee fraudster Steven "Dean" Kennedy, whose now-defunct company, Atlantic Rim Funding, defrauded businesses seeking business loans, by taking "escrow" funds, failing to deliver funding, and keeping their clients' escrow. The style of the case is State of Vermont vs. MPHJ Investments LLC*, Superior Court, Civil Division. There have been literally dozens of shell LLCs created to demand spurious patent license fees from victims, many of whom have paid purely to avoid costly litigation, that they can ill-afford.

Rust reportedly supervised several shell companies, who agents threatened patent infringement litigation against American businesses, in order to coerce them into paying bogus license fees to email scanned pdf images from their commercial facsimile machines. Such companies, who merely seek to force businesses to pay fees, and do not produce the products themselves, are known as patent trolls.

Patent Troll

Apparently, there has never been an adjudication, in a court of competent jurisdiction, of the validity of Rusk's client's patents, but the scheme is to threaten costly litigation, as a means of extorting fees from legitimate businesses. There are also issues of misrepresentation of material facts, according to the Attorney General's complaint, which seeks injunctive relief, and  money damages.

Jay Mac Rust a/k/a/ J "Mac" Rust

Mr. Rust, who had previously claimed to be just another victim of Atlantic Rim Funding's fraudulent activities, and innocent of any misconduct, but was still sued**, now has a lot of explaining to do, both inside and out of, court.
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*Attorney General of Vermont website has link to Complaint
**Atlantic Rim Funding Victim sues Escrow Lawyer for Malpractice and breach of Fiduciary Duty