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(Reuters) – A U.S. judge has agreed to investigate a website that lawyers said is presenting “false and misleading” information about the $5.6 billion settlement that retailers struck with Visa and Mastercard over credit and debit card fees.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo in Brooklyn in an order on Friday granted a request from plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case to start a probe that could shut down the unauthorized site and void any client contracts that have come from it.
Marutollo set a deadline for the website to respond to an inquiry from him. A representative for the website did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Reuters.
Major class action settlements often feature websites with information for class members. The website at issue in the Visa and Mastercard case closely resembles the official U.S. court-authorized page set up as part of the 2019 settlement in the litigation in Brooklyn, New York, federal court.
Fraud claims have arisen from at least two other class action cases in recent months.