Sweepstakes Firm Settles for $1 Million

The sweepstakes firm that features entertainers Ed McMahon and Dick Clark as pitchmen paid $1 million to settle contempt charges in Raleigh, N.C., after violating a court order barring misleading mailings. North Carolina Atty. Gen. Michael Easley said American Family Publishers paid $1 million to settle the latest round in a protracted lawsuit brought against the sweepstakes giant by the state. A federal court in June found the company in contempt for mass mailings sent out in late 1997 and early 1998 implying that the recipient and only one other person stood to win $11 million, with the prize going to the first of the two to return a sweepstakes entry.