Stamp Traders Settle Fraud Complaint Case for $44,000

A pair of stamp traders have agreed to reimburse consumers a total of $44,000 to settle their part in the Federal Trade Commission’s $10-million fraud complaint against World Wide Classics Inc. in Mission Viejo.

FTC attorney Linda Stock said World Wide’s president, Janet Alexander, has agreed to repay $5,000 to various clients, while the company’s sales director, Christopher de Jesus, has agreed to repay $39,000. The deal must be approved by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. in Los Angeles.

The FTC last year charged World Wide, several of its officers and three related companies with fraudulently inflating the value of stamps sold to thousands of collectors and with falsely representing the stamps as low-risk investments with high annual appreciation rates, Stock said.

The charges are still being contested by the other defendants, including World Wide, its chairman, Ronald Schaefer, and his wife, Joyce Eve Schaefer. No trial date has been set.