The founder of a West Ridge company has been accused of running a massive nationwide scam that netted tens of millions of dollars from over 100,000 consumers, according to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Illinois.
Owner Yosef Banath, 34, and his company B.E.S.T. GDR, operating as Premium Home Service, created more than 15,000 fake businesses that would appear on search engines, such as Google, to entice consumers needing home repairs, according to the complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Minnesota’s attorney general filed a similar lawsuit against the company earlier this week.
Premium Home Service is accused of violating consumer protection laws. Records show the company’s primary address, 6723 N. Sacramento Ave., is a home owned by Howard and Jeanne Bernath, also known as Chaim and Rivkah Leah Bernath, who purchased the home in 1994. The owners didn’t answer the door when contacted by the Sun-Times…