Countywide : Owner Pays $25,000 to Settle Fraud Case
- Share via
The owner of a company that allegedly gathered sales leads by posing as a nonprofit organization has agreed to pay $25,000 in civil penalties to settle fraud claims, the district attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Charles Bertollini, owner and president of the now-defunct Citizens for Clean Water Inc., admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, officials said.
He was charged in a 1987 complaint filed by the county and the state attorney general’s office with mailing out questionnaires to residents in Southern California that identified his company as a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting raw statistical information.
In fact, the mailing was a ruse to develop sales leads for a water-treatment device sold by a business run by Bertollini, according to prosecutors.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
