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DAVID C. SHONKA

Acting General Counsel

SARAH SCHROEDER, Cal. Bar No. 221528 

ROBERTA TONELLI, Cal. Bar No. 278738 

EVAN ROSE, Cal. Bar No. 253478 

Federal Trade Commission

901 Market Street, Suite 570 

San Francisco, CA 94103 

sschroeder@ftc.gov, rtonelli@ftc.gov, erose@ftc.gov

Tel: (415) 848-5100; Fax: (415) 848-5184 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

OAKLAND DIVISION

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, 

 Plaintiff,

 vs. 

AMERICAN FINANCIAL BENEFITS 

CENTER, a corporation, also d/b/a AFB and AF 

STUDENT SERVICES; 

AMERITECH FINANCIAL, a corporation; 

 

FINANCIAL EDUCATION BENEFITS 

CENTER, a corporation; and

BRANDON DEMOND FRERE, individually 

and as an officer of AMERICAN FINANCIAL 

BENEFITS CENTER, AMERITECH 

FINANCIAL, and FINANCIAL EDUCATION 

BENEFITS CENTER,

 

 Defendants. 

 

Case No. 4:18-cv-00806-SBA

DECLARATION OF JACOB 

MARTINEZ IN SUPPORT OF 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION’S 

MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY 

INJUNCTION

Case 4:18-cv-00806-SBA Document 64 Filed 03/05/18 Page 1 of 4

DECLARATION OF JACOB MARTINEZ IN SUPPORT OF FEDERAL TRADE 

COMMISSION’S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

 4:18-CV-00806-SBA
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DECLARATION OF JACOB MARTINEZ

1. My name is Jacob Martinez and I reside in California. The following statements 

are within my personal knowledge and if called as a witness I could and would competently 

testify thereto. 

2. I worked for AmeriTech Financial between December of 2016 and September of 

2017. Throughout my tenure at the company, I was employed as an Account/Enrollment

Specialist in the sales department. I reported to the El Dorado Hills office located at 1101 

Investment Blvd STE 290, El Dorado Hills, CA. 

3. Training consisted primarily of reading and memorizing the sales script. 

Throughout the course of my employment, the script changed numerous times. 

4. My job duties consisted of receiving inbound phone calls from people that wanted 

to reduce or eliminate their student loan payments. To my recollection, AmeriTech would send 

our direct mailers advertising the possibility of reducing a student’s monthly loan payment to 

zero dollars. I would also receive calls from leads generated via a Facebook ad campaign.

5. When I first began taking calls, my initial impression was that the script was 

designed to make people believe that the payments they make to our company would go towards 

their student loans. 

6. My job was to encourage callers to enroll in our program and help them fill out 

our application over the phone. I was expected to enroll approximately ten clients in a two-week 

pay period. After ten, I would earn a bonus. 

7. As part of the enrollment process, I would obtain written consent from the 

prospective client to log in to the Department of Education website and view their loan amount. I 

would also log in to their respective loan servicer website. We were then told to change or obtain 

their login credentials on both systems so that we would be the only ones with access. This was a 

requirement, and we were unable to make a sale without doing so. 

8. In qualifying a prospective client for our program, we used a combination of 

family size and income. It was common practice to exaggerate family size figures in order to get 

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people to qualify. I recall managers telling us the following examples of what constituted a 

family member: 1) A niece or nephew that occasionally visited for dinner 2) Close friends that 

sleep on your couch or loan money to. 3) A close friend that uses your Netflix account. 

9. Managers not only encouraged this practice, but also participated in the phone 

calls when sales agents were struggling. Managers would also have to approve family size 

figures that exceeded eight people and were therefore well aware of what criteria sales agents 

were using. 

10. The program fees consisted of a document preparation fee and monthly fee that 

ranged from approximately $49-$99. I am not familiar with the document preparation fee. The 

idea behind the document preparation fee was to assist clients in applying for forbearance or an 

income based repayment plan. This was not my department so I am not very familiar with the 

process. 

11. Clients were led to believe that the $49-$99 monthly fee was keeping them 

enrolled in a Federal program. In reality, This benefits package offered things like 24-hour 

roadside assistance and tax preparation services. These monthly payments were automatically 

drafted from the client’s bank account and clients believed it was designed to continue for 10-25 

years or until the loan was forgiven by the Dept of Education. 

12. I would regularly receive calls from clients that complained. The most common 

complaint was from clients that eventually realized their monthly payments to us were not going 

towards their student loan. Sometimes they would get a letter from their loan servicer, their

balance would go up, or their loan would default. I would then transfer these calls to the 

retention department. Client’s risked default. 

13. Sometime around June and July 2017, one of the leading managers, went to 

Belize and Jamaica to establish overseas call centers. The new call centers would take the initial 

inbound calls and then patch them over to us after a brief sales pitch and pre-qualification. This 

new outsourcing made me uncomfortable and made the process even more confusing than it 

already was. 

Case 4:18-cv-00806-SBA Document 64 Filed 03/05/18 Page 3 of 4
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14. Shortly thereafter, I filed for all of my personal time off. I resigned on my first 

day back at work. The operation made feel me uncomfortable. 

15. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed 

on _______03/01/2018_____________, 2018, in California. 

____Jacob Martinez____ 

Case 4:18-cv-00806-SBA Document 64 Filed 03/05/18 Page 4 of 4