Yesterday, the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation warned investors that an "entity calling itself “Hartman Cain & Associates,” which represents itself as a law firm based in California, and operates the website https://www.hartmancainlaw.com/, is reaching out to investors about a class action “settlement” involving the California Department of Business Oversight, and claiming that investors can receive settlement money – if they pay fees first."

The DFPI, of course, hasn't been known as the Department of Business Oversight for nearly four years. While it may bring a civil action to enforce the Corporate Securities Law of 1968, it typically would have not involvement in the settlement of a class action lawsuit.

I checked out the website for "Hartman Cain & Associates". At first glance, it looks like a real website. Three attorneys with are listed with their photographs and biographies. However, I could find no attorneys by that name licensed in California. The street address listed for the firm, moreover, appears to be a commercial mailbox facility. I found nearly identical language extolling the firm on the websites of other law firms.

California does have a Security Owners Protection law which makes it unlawful to, among other things, employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud in connection with the solicitation, receipt, or collection of any fees or compensation of any kind for the purpose of protecting, enforcing, or representing the rights of security owners. Cal. Corp. Code § 27101. Persons who violate the law are subject to civil and criminal penalties, including imprisonment.