There is a particular type of online ad that has existed since roughly the dawn of the internet: the financial guru, filmed in front of a nice car or a waterfront property, explaining that they've cracked the code on making money in the markets and would like to share it with you for a reasonable monthly fee.
WealthPress was that ad, at scale, for years. The FTC eventually showed up with a lawsuit, a settlement, and $1.2 million to return to customers. Here's what happened — and what's in your mailbox right now if you were one of them.
What did WealthPress actually sell?
WealthPress, a Florida-based company, sold subscription services promising access to expert trading advice and proprietary algorithms that would help customers profit in the financial markets. The pitch was aggressive and specific. One promotional video promised users they could "potentially make $24,840 dollars — or more — every single week," with "quick simple trades that require zero market knowledge or trading experience."
Zero market knowledge required. Every single week. That's an extraordinary claim, and the FTC's position was that WealthPress couldn't back it up — because many customers who followed the advice lost substantial money instead of making it.
The promotional tactics went further. One owner, Roger Scott, implied in video ads that profits from WealthPress' recommendations had enabled him to purchase a home in Beverly Hills next door to Julia Roberts and Eddie Van Halen. Another supposed expert claimed his system had "granted me ultimate freedom" and that he would never have to work again.
Inspiring stuff. The FTC, however, had a different read on the underlying trades — specifically, that many of them were entirely fictional. According to the complaint, the trades touted in marketing materials were not real positions taken in the market. They were calculations based on historical price data, back-tested to look profitable after the fact. The trades "never happened" is a fairly significant caveat to leave out of the sales pitch.
How did it end up at the FTC?
The short version: enough customers lost enough money and complained loudly enough that WealthPress ended up on Mastercard's list of problematic merchants — a designation reserved for businesses generating unusually high rates of refund requests and chargebacks. Getting flagged by your payment processor is not a great sign for a company selling financial advice.
The FTC filed suit in January 2023. When unhappy customers reached out to WealthPress directly, the company reportedly had a canned email response ready to go, opening with the sentence: "We are sorry to hear your trading experience is not off to a good start."
To be fair, that is technically an expression of regret. It just doesn't address the part where the trades were fictional.
WealthPress settled with the FTC, agreeing to pay $1.2 million in consumer refunds and an additional $500,000 civil penalty — the first ever civil penalties for violations of the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) and for deceptive earnings claims made after receiving an FTC Notice of Penalty Offenses. In other words, WealthPress had been warned before and kept going anyway.
Who is getting a payment now — and why is this a second round?
The FTC sent its first round of WealthPress refunds in April 2024, distributing nearly $978,000 to 19,857 customers. Because money remained in the settlement fund after that distribution, the FTC is now sending a second round — $177,000 to 6,290 people.
This second round has a narrower eligibility window:
- You must have paid WealthPress $2,500 or more
- You must have already accepted your first refund payment from the April 2024 round
How will the payment arrive?
Payments come from JND Legal Administration, the FTC-contracted administrator for this refund program. Most customers will receive a paper check. Eligible customers without a current mailing address on file will receive a PayPal payment instead.
- Check: Cash within 90 days of the date printed on the check
- PayPal: Accept within 30 days of the payment notification
Miss either window and the funds go back into the settlement — not to you. Treat both with the same urgency you would a gift card from a relative you'd like to keep seeing at the holidays.
How to verify the payment is legitimate
The bigger picture
WealthPress is a useful case study in how get-rich-quick investment schemes actually work. The genius of the model is that financial markets are legitimately unpredictable — some customers will make money following almost any advice, which provides a steady supply of real testimonials. The customers who lose money are easy to explain away as having made mistakes in execution. And the ones who complain loudly enough? You send them the "not off to a good start" email and hope they go away.
What the FTC specifically targeted here was the back-tested fictional trade problem. Showing someone a trade that would have returned 400% if executed at the exact right historical moment is not the same as showing them a trade that will make money going forward. One is marketing. The other is investing. WealthPress was selling the first while claiming to offer the second.
The settlement permanently bars WealthPress and its owners from making earnings claims without written substantiation to back them up. Which, in retrospect, seems like a low bar that should probably apply to everyone.