Minnesota AG sues home‑services firm

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed suit on May 11 against Illinois-based B.E.S.T GDR, LLC, which does business as Premium Home Services, and its owner, Yosef Bernath. The complaint alleges the company posed online as hundreds of local home-repair businesses across Minnesota to win business from homeowners who believed they were hiring neighborhood contractors. The state says the listings used invented company names, Minnesota addresses where no such businesses operated, and local phone numbers that routed callers to an overseas call center. Ellison’s office filed the case in Hennepin County and said it is seeking restitution for consumers, civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and investigation costs. (ag.state.mn.us) ### Which company did Minnesota sue, and what does the state say it did? B.E.S.T GDR, LLC, operating as Premium Home Services, is the defendant named in the state’s May 11 complaint along with Bernath. The complaint says the company ran an Illinois-based online business that “falsely holds itself out” as hundreds of separate brick-and-mortar home-repair businesses in Minnesota. The Minnesota attorney general’s office said each profile featured a Minnesota street address, a local phone number and, in many cases, positive reviews and five-star ratings. (ag.state.mn.us) The complaint alleges those businesses were fictitious, the listed addresses did not house the advertised companies, and many of the reviews were fabricated by the defendants or people acting for them. ### How did the alleged scheme work when a homeowner made contact? The complaint says consumers who called what appeared to be local businesses were connected instead to customer-service representatives “typically” located overseas. (ag.state.mn.us) Those representatives, according to the filing, were trained to continue the impression that the business was local and ready to handle the repair. The state alleges the callers were then sold either a membership or a one-time service call, often after providing debit- or credit-card information. (ag.state.mn.us) Premium Home Services and its subcontractors then arranged for local service providers to do the work, the complaint says, making the company a broker rather than the local contractor consumers thought they had hired. ### What harm does Minnesota say consumers suffered? The complaint says consumers reported that subcontracted workers were unqualified and provided poor service. (ag.state.mn.us) The attorney general’s office also said some consumers did not receive the services they paid for. Between June 2020 and May 2023, the complaint alleges, the defendants “tricked thousands of Minnesota consumers” and took millions of dollars from people who believed they were supporting local small businesses. (ag.state.mn.us) The filing says the conduct continued through 2024 and, “upon information and belief,” after that as well. ### What detail in the complaint shows how the state says reviews were manipulated? The attorney general’s May 11 release points to one example from the complaint involving a reviewer identified as “Lance Smith.” Ellison’s office said that name appeared on dozens of five-star reviews for electrical contractors in Minnesota and other cities around the country, using remarkably similar language in or around January 2024. (ag.state.mn.us) That example matters because the state is not alleging only misleading business names or phone routing. (ag.state.mn.us) The complaint also says fake reviews helped make the invented businesses look established and trustworthy to consumers searching online for urgent home-repair help. ### What is Ellison asking the court to do now? Hennepin County is where the state filed the case, and Ellison said the lawsuit is meant to stop what he called an “elaborate scheme” that deceived and harmed Minnesotans. (ag.state.mn.us) The attorney general’s office said it wants court orders ending the alleged practices and monetary relief for affected consumers. Minnesota’s complaint says the state is seeking restitution, civil penalties, costs of investigation and attorneys’ fees. (ag.state.mn.us) The next step is the court process in Hennepin County District Court, where Premium Home Services and Bernath can respond to the allegations.