Federal judge bars Texas man, source of billions of robocalls nationwide from business

Unwanted sales calls, robocalls and scam calls are a major source of frustration for Ohio consumers. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

Unwanted sales calls, robocalls and scam calls are a major source of frustration for Ohio consumers. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

Ohio and seven other states have received a permanent ban against a Texas-based robocaller behind billions of illegal calls, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a release.

According to the release, John C. Spiller II previously offered robocall dialer and Voice Over Internet Protocol services to telemarketers, leading to huge volumes of robocalls, many of which targeted numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.

In 2023, he was put under a court order that barred him from placing or facilitating robocalls, but used aliases to launch new companies providing the same kind of robocalls, the release said.

As a result, a federal judge in Texas recently found Spiller in contempt of court and imposed the strictest penalty, permanently barring him from launching future telecommunications companies, operating in the telecom industry, collaborating with those that helped in his illegal businesses, make deceptive statements or use aliases in government filings, the release said.

He was also ordered to pay more than $600,000 in attorney’s fees and litigation costs for violating the order.

Attorneys general from Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas were involved in the contempt order.

“This scammer’s line is dead — and it’s not coming back,” Yost said.

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