O.C. Defendant Takes a Powder in Makeup Training Scam Trial

A former nightclub hypnotist accused of bilking cosmetologists out of $1.5 million through training courses in “permanent makeup” has been convicted of criminal contempt of court for violating orders that prohibit him from misleading consumers in promotions and training courses.

But Ronald Dante, who once was married briefly to the late actress Lana Turner, apparently fled before the last day of testimony on Friday, said attorneys for both sides. His last known address was in Huntington Beach.

A bench warrant for his arrest was issued Monday after his conviction by a federal court jury in Los Angeles. Dante, 67, faces up to 27 months in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Feb. 23.

The Federal Trade Commission shut down his Perma-Derm Academy in Fountain Valley six years ago. At the time, he consented to a federal court order requiring him to refund $143,750 and to adhere to a variety of conditions that prohibited him from misleading consumers in other promotions.

But last April, in an FTC initiative called Project Scofflaw aimed at enforcing such court orders, the agency accused him of continuing to peddle his promises of cosmetic certificates under a new name, Permanetics Inc.

The agency charged that he violated the court order by failing to warn nearly 20,000 consumers in brochures he sent them that the procedure, essentially tattooing, was highly regulated in most states and that doctors often were the only ones allowed to perform the procedure.

In addition, the FTC alleged that Dante opened a paralegal training school, American Professional Institute, that falsely promised high-salaried jobs to graduates. Using fictitious names of paralegals, he said in promotional materials and advertising that they earned up to $260,000 a year.

In those and other businesses and activities, Dante himself used at least a dozen male and female aliases, including the name of his former housekeeper, the agency alleged.

During five days of testimony over the past two weeks, six victims of the Permanetics and API schemes testified that they were misled by Dante’s promises and assurances, said Anthony S. Barkow, a Justice Department consumer litigation attorney.

Dante fled before his lawyer, Michael G. Wales of Irvine, finished his cross-examination of the final prosecution witness on Friday. The trial, however, continued.

While he elicited some favorable testimony from prosecution witnesses and introduced defense exhibits through them, Wales didn’t put on a separate defense. Instead, he argued that the prosecution hadn’t proved its case and that two others created the inappropriate marketing effort without his client’s knowledge or consent.

The jury, however, didn’t agree and convicted Dante on 10 of 11 counts of criminal contempt.