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ReadersSpeak

A dramatic fall from grace William,
Based on review of the Inc. 5000 application guide at
ow does a company go from being No. 553 www.inc.com/inc5000/apply/guide, it appears the company
on the Inc. 5000 list one year, and then two does not vet applicants to assess whether their practices
years later, settle FTC charges that it assisted are ethical or lawful, but the organization does not claim
H fraudulent schemes that took more than $110 to do so either. To qualify for consideration this year, a
million from consumers? I’m talking about Allied Wallet, company must be privately owned, based in the United
which made the Inc. 5000 in 2017 and settled with the States, and independent (not a subsidiary or division of
Federal Trade Commission on May 21. another company); have started earning revenue by March
31, 2015; had revenue no less than $100,000 in 2015; had
According to the FTC, orders against the company’s CEO revenue no less than $2,000,000 in 2018; and revenue in
and owner, Ahmad Khawaja, and two other officers, 2018 must exceed revenue in 2015.
Mohammad Diab and Amy Rountree, require them to
pay $110 million, $320,429.82 and $1 million, respectfully. Many other organizations offer awards that recognize
Their payment processing business is prohibited from more than income and growth. Community service
working with certain types of merchants, too, like sellers initiatives, superior work environments, and breakthrough
and marketers of money-making opportunities and debt technologies that better their respective industries come
collection services—the types of companies that they to mind. Awards specific to the payments sphere, such as
assisted in perpetrating fraud, so says the FTC. What kind the ETA Star Awards, do vet companies, based on several
of background check does Inc. do on companies they list, criteria, before honors are bestowed.
or is it based strictly on financial data? Editor
Sound off here
William Dinklow
Customer Service Representative Do you have a question, or would you like to share your
views on a timely payments topic in 300 words or fewer?
Email us at greensheet@greensheet.com, and we just might
feature you right on this page.