Florida company to refund Iowa businesses, charities

St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Centurion Filing Services and its owner, Dean G. Marshlack, agreed to pay $78,900 in refunds to more than 1,200 Iowa business owners and charity operators, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s Office said in a news release Wednesday announcing the settlement.

The agreement resolves allegations “the company and its owner violated the Consumer Fraud Act by sending mailers that appeared to be from government agencies to Iowans in an attempt to sell unnecessary documents,” the release said.

The company and its owner also agreed to refrain from sending mailer solicitations to Iowans and cease sharing any information from businesses and charities that responded to the company’s solicitations.

According to the lawsuit, Centurion — using the name “IA Certificate Service” and a Des Moines address from a UPS Store — sent out at least 7,170 mailers to Iowa business owners. The letters looked like invoices and stated, “your articles have been filed with the secretary of state and are complete,” and instructed businesses to reply for an “Iowa Certificate of Existence” for $67.50.

Business certificates of existence are available directly from the Iowa Secretary of State for only $5.

Under the agreement, Centurion will provide $62.50 per transaction to every Iowa consumer who purchased certificates of existence for their businesses and charities and were not previously refunded by the defendants.

In all, 1,263 transactions were completed, according to the settlement.

“Centurion misled Iowa businesses and charities during a time when many were already struggling amid the pandemic,” Miller said.

The Attorney General’s Office will send refunds directly to business owners and charity operators beginning in March, the release said.