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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) added real estate investment celebrities, Dean Graziosi, Scott Yancey as defendants in a lawsuit filed against Nudge LLC and its affiliates that defrauded millions of dollars from consumers.

Graziosi appears in infomercials promoting his books on real estate investing. He claims to be an entrepreneur, investor, and a New York Times best-selling author.

Yancey was the star of the reality television series “Flipping Vegas” that aired on the A&E television network from 2011 to 2014.

In its amended complaint, the FTC alleged that Nudge primarily used both real estate celebrities to lure consumers into attending seminars that falsely promised to teach them a proven formula to make money by investing in real estate.

Graziosi and Yancey allegedly “made millions” from the deceptive real estate training scheme

Graziosi and Yancey allegedly received a percentage of all the money spent by consumers who bought real estate training and coaching from Nudge.

Additionally, the FTC alleged that both real estate investment celebrities substantially helped Nudge in its deceptive telemarketing scheme to sell real estate coaching and training programs.

Graziosi and Yancey allegedly knew that many consumers were complaining that they were misled into spending a significant amount of money on their real estate coaching and training programs. To counter the negative reviews, both men allegedly told Nudge and its affiliates to place positive reviews on third-party websites such as Yelp and Consumer Affairs.

In a statement, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Andrew Smith said, “We believe these two TV personalities each made millions of dollars by assisting and facilitating this real estate investment rip-off. They were instrumental to the scheme and took a cut of the profits, and that’s why we’re seeking to add them to our case against the program’s operators.”

The FTC and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection originally filed a complaint to shutdown Nudge and its affiliates last year. The federal and state regulators alleged that the defendants defrauded more than $400 million from consumers since early 2012

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