TV Report: Endorsement Spots For Company Selling 'Fraudulent' Fund Gets WHPT (102.5 The Bone)/Tampa, Host In Hot Water

Garabo

COX MEDIA GROUP Talk WHPT (102.5 THE BONE)/TAMPA and afternoon host DREW GARABO are being criticized in a television news report for allegedly endorsing a company selling a fraudulent investment fund.

Crosstown NBC affiliate WFLA-TV/TAMPA reports that the spots were for C 4 BENEFITS GROUP, a company that marketed TEXAS businessman PATRICK HOWARD's Optimal Economics Capital Partners fund (O.E. Capital), with the ads claiming a minimum gain of 12% per year.   The fund is the subject of a complaint by the SEC calling it "an egregious fraud on investors” and a Ponzi scheme that paid some investors with money from other investors.  GARABO was featured in endorsements on the C 4 website a year after C 4 said that it learned of the SEC investigation into the fund.

While the report claims that at least one listener is suing the station and the fund company, ALL ACCESS was unable to confirm that a lawsuit has yet been filed.

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