Evoke Wellness to Pay $1.9 Million to Settle FTC Claims That They Misled Consumers Seeking Substance Use Disorder Treatment

The operators of a Florida-based substance use disorder treatment clinic have agreed to pay $1.9 million, settling allegations that they used deceptive Google search ads and telemarketing to impersonate other treatment providers. They also agreed to a ban on impersonating other companies, including other substance use disorder treatment clinics, and other deceptive advertising.

According to the FTC’s January 2025 complaint, Evoke Wellness, LLC, Evoke Health Care Management, LLC, and their officers, Jonathan Moseley and James Hull, targeted consumers searching for specific substance use disorder clinics online. They used the names of other clinics as keywords to masquerade as those clinics in Evoke’s Google ads, which paired those names with the phone number to Evoke’s call center.

When consumers called, Evoke telemarketers typically posed as a centralized admissions office or addiction treatment hotline, rather than a call center associated with Evoke. The telemarketers consistently reinforced the ad’s deception by falsely claiming to have a relationship with the clinic the consumer was trying to contact. The FTC complaint alleged this conduct violated both the FTC Act and the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act of 2018.

“Opioids have ravaged American communities, killing well over one hundred Americans per day and ruining the lives of countless others,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “Today’s settlement helps consumers affected by opioid addiction navigate their path to recovery by preventing fraudsters from leading them astray. The Commission will continue to take every action it can against those who prey on our nation’s vulnerable in their time of need.”

The proposed order resolves the FTC’s complaint. The order, which must be approved by a federal judge before it goes into effect, will:

• ban the defendants from using their rivals’ names in search-engine ads;
• prohibit misrepresentations related to substance abuse disorder treatment services;
• prohibit the defendants from impersonating other businesses;
• require the defendants to put a compliance program in place to monitor their call centers for misrepresentations; and
• require them to take corrective action against agents who violate the order.

Finally, the order imposes a $7 million civil penalty against the defendants, which is partially suspended to $1.9 million because of their inability to pay the full amount. If they are later found to have misrepresented their financial condition to the FTC, the full amount will immediately become due.

The Commission vote approving the stipulated final order was 3-0. The FTC filed the proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The lead staff attorneys on this matter are Victor DeFrancis and Cassandra Rasmussen in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

NOTE: Stipulated final orders or injunctions have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.