💰 Biggest FTC settlements ranked: Facebook $5B, Amazon Prime

Facebook's $5B leads; Amazon's Prime order is a $1B penalty plus $1.5B in refunds, filed as a proposed order. Approval unconfirmed. ⏳

By , business desk · Desk editor Laima Ērkšķe-Kreicberga · · 3 min read

AmazonRANKEDPhoto: SounderBruce · CC BY-SA 2.0

Photo: SounderBruce, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Desaturated and cropped by MrScandal.

What we know

  • The FTC says Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds to settle its Prime enrollment and cancellation case (FTC press release).
  • The Harvard Journal of Law & Technology reports the FTC settled a Facebook privacy investigation for $5 billion, about 9% of Facebook's 2018 revenue.
  • Reuters reported that the AMG Capital Management case produced a $1.27 billion court-ordered settlement, the largest in FTC history at the time of its April 2021 report.
  • The FTC says a federal judge ordered OMICS Group's owner and companies to pay more than $50.1 million in April 2019.

The FTC's biggest numbers come in three flavors: negotiated settlements, court-ordered payments and judgments that exist mostly on paper. Here are five from the record, ranked by dollar figure. Read the labels, because they matter.

01

Facebook: $5 billion privacy settlement

The Harvard Journal of Law & Technology reports that the FTC settled a privacy investigation into the Cambridge Analytica matter for $5 billion. The journal says that was 9% of Facebook's 2018 revenue, and that lawmakers worried penalties of this size would not deter the company. The settlement date and any terms beyond the figure are not in the documents read.

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02

Amazon: $1 billion penalty plus $1.5 billion in refunds

The FTC says Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds, settling allegations that it enrolled millions of consumers in Prime without consent and made cancelling difficult. The FTC cites Amazon documents from before trial, including a comment that "subscription driving is a bit of a shady world." The commission voted 3-0 and filed the proposed order in the Western District of Washington. Amazon's response is not in the FTC release.

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By the numbers

  • 2y 3mfrom first to latest entry on recordJun 2023 to Sep 2025, 2 dated entries in the file
  • 5receipts behind this story3 regulator records, 2 news reports, 2018 to 2025

Counted by MrScandal from the receipts, the Files and our rankings.

03

AMG Capital Management: $1.27 billion

Reuters reported that the business practices of Scott Tucker and AMG Capital Management led to the largest court-ordered settlement in FTC history, $1.27 billion. Tucker was convicted in 2017 of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, and sentenced in 2018 to 16 years and eight months. On April 22, 2021 the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the FTC's 13(b) authority does not let judges order money returned to consumers.

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04

OMICS Group: more than $50.1 million

Per the FTC, a federal district court judge ordered Srinubabu Gedela and his companies in April 2019 to pay more than $50.1 million. The order resolved a 2016 FTC complaint alleging false claims about journals and conferences, and hidden publication fees. This was a court judgment rather than a negotiated settlement. The defendants' response is not in the FTC page.

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05

Dynasty Merchants and Mihilli: $5.8 million, suspended

The FTC said on December 10, 2018 that Nikolas Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC settled charges of laundering credit card charges for the Money Now Funding operation. A $5.8 million monetary judgment was suspended due to the defendants' inability to pay. It becomes due immediately if a court finds either defendant misstated or omitted the value of a material asset. On paper, a big number. In cash, the ledger reads zero for now.

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Where today's Progress Residential deal fits

The Progress Residential settlement is not in the documents read for this piece, so it is not ranked above. Its figure, terms and any court status need a primary source before it can take a slot on this list. MrMoney does not place numbers on a scale it cannot verify.

Earlier on file: Amazon Ring: FTC order seeks $5.8M over employee video access · Progress Residential and Pretium to pay $49.75M in FTC case · Facebook $5B FTC penalty: what it required of Mark Zuckerberg

The Amazon file

Last entry Sep 2025
  1. Filed

    FTC says Amazon agreed to a $1 billion penalty and $1.5 billion in refunds; proposed order filed in federal court. This story

  2. Reported

    An Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica Ring addressed the issues years ago, before the FTC inquiry. Amazon Ring: FTC order seeks $5.8M over employee video access

On file: The Amazon file · The Federal Trade Commission file · The Meta Platforms file

The Ledger

On the record

  • The FTC says Amazon's order carries a $1 billion penalty plus $1.5 billion in refunds, and a court-ordered $1.27 billion AMG payment and a $50.1 million OMICS judgment are on record.

Still rumour

  • The $49.75M Progress Residential deal is not confirmed in the documents read, nor is court approval of the Amazon order or the date of the Facebook settlement.

That's the record. The rest is rumour. - MrMoney

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