Griffin: ‘I will continue to combat robocallers who ignore the law and the courts’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement after announcing that he and seven other state attorneys general are asking the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas to take additional action against a Texas based robocaller for violating permanent robocall and telemarketing bans:

“In March of last year, my office obtained judgments shutting down the massive robocall operation of Rising Eagle Capital Group, LLC, and other companies owned by John Caldwell Spiller, II. As part of the judgment, Spiller was banned from making robocalls or engaging in telemarketing. Spiller has ignored those bans, and we are asking the court to enforce the $122 million fine against Spiller that was suspended contingent upon honoring the terms of the judgment.

“Unwanted calls are a nuisance to every Arkansan. I will continue to combat robocallers who ignore the law and the courts.”

Despite the permanent injunction against Spiller in March 2023, he continued to harass people by making deceptive and abusive robocalls and by helping others make these calls. Spiller used aliases and falsified business records filed in various states and with the Federal Communications Commission. Further, since being originally sued, Spiller has set up at least three new businesses through which he engaged in telemarketing and facilitated robocalls.

Because he violated these bans on robocalling and telemarketing, Griffin and the attorneys general of Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas are asking the court to ban Spiller from engaging in all telephone-related services, not just robocalling and telemarketing. That includes transmitting telephone calls over the U.S. telephone network, providing any VoIP services, engaging in text messaging services, and originating or facilitating ringless voicemail messages or any other electronic messages.

The attorneys general are also asking that the court order Spiller to dissolve his existing telephone service companies. They also ask that Spiller be ordered to pay $122,339,320—the amount that would have otherwise been suspended if Spiller had followed the rules of the permanent injunction and the court’s order. Because he failed to do so, he is obligated to pay the full amount.

For a copy of the motion to modify the previous order, click here. For a copy of the motion to show cause, click here.

For a printer-friendly version of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having
previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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