A Galloway Township resident who ran work-at-home scams for more than a decade has agreed to pay nearly $1 million dollars to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging he took money from desperate people looking for work.

Wayne J. Verderber II, of Leeds Point Road, has relinquished three condos, a 1999 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, 100 1-ounce silver bars (valued at about $4,000) and seven one-quarter ounce gold rounds (valued at about $8,350).

He also will liquidate other assets as part of the $919,00 settlement agreed to on April 11 before Federal Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden.

The condos—30 Cheshire Dr., Building 31, Galloway, and Units 1G and 2C at 37 S. Iowa Ave. in Atlantic City—will be auctioned off at the Sheraton Raritan Center on July 28 to help satisfy the judgment. 

Prospective buyers can preview the properties at those addresses on July 19 from noon to 2 p.m. Similar condos at those locations are listed for around $120,000 to $140,000.

Verderber’s phone is not accepting calls and he could not be reached for comment Friday. A message for his lawyer, Andrew Lustigman of New York, was not returned.

The government alleges Verderber, who also uses the names Wayne Verd and Brian West, used his company, Independent Marketing Exchange, Inc., to defraud people who bought into work-at-home and mystery shopping schemes.

His ads promised people could make more than $25 an hour. Often, they made nothing.

According to the FTC, Verderber also did business as:

National Data Management; N.D.M.; Global Mailing Services; G.M.S.; Independent Mailing Services; Independent Mailing Services Inc.; I.M.S.; Independent Shoppers Network; Independent Shoppers; Success At Home; Success-At-Home Mailing; IMEX; IMEX Inc.; and Continental Publishing Company.

The FTC alleges he conducted his business from his Leeds Point home, though he sometimes also used addresses on Jimmie Leeds Road in Galloway and also on New Jersey Avenue in Absecon for his area businesses.

The settlement order against him and Independent Marketing Exchange bars Verderber from making deceptive claims about goods and services, or assisting others in doing so.

He is also required to provide proof for any earnings claims he makes.

If it turns out Verderber has lied about his financial condition, the full $919,000 is due immediately.

Washington state, which brought a cease and desist order against Verderber and his companies in 2008, alleges his scams began as early as September of 1998, operating initially from Absecon.

Internet sites warnings about his business practices began appearing by as early as 2007. The Better Business Bureau has flagged Independent Marketing Exchange, awarding it an F. 

In 2009, Verderber claimed in his ads that he was a member of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce. Current listings do not show him as a member. A call to the chamber asking if he ever was a member was not immediately returned Friday evening.

Several current Internet business listings show Verderber now operates a company known as VR & Associates, LLC from his Leeds Point home. That business was not named in the initial FTC complaint or the settlement. 

The FTC crackdown that caught up Verderber was announced Feb. 17, 2010, and the settlement was signed this April.

An FTC spokeswoman on Saturday said Verderber advertised on Internet sites, making false and misleading claims.

Click here for the original FTC release and here for the final judgment order.