York County Superior Court Justice Paul Fritzsche sentenced Peter Throumoulos to four years in jail with all but 60 days suspended and three years probation. In August, a jury found him guilty of stealing $18,000 from the Maine Clean Elections Fund in connection with his 2004 state Senate race, and of attempting to steal a similar amount during his 2006 state Senate race. Jurors also found him guilty of three counts of aggravated forgery.

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe announced today that his office has settled a case involving an antitrust challenge to the merger of the two largest school bus contractors in the nation, FirstGroup (also known as First Student, Inc.) and Laidlaw International, Inc. Over the past decade, Maine school districts, like their counterparts around the United States, have increasingly turned to private contractors to provide transportation to the students and families they serve.

Attorney General Steve Rowe filed a suit against Downeast Mortgage Corporation, Commercial Street Capital LLC, James Lindvall a principal in both companies and Catherine Campbell a loan officer for engaging in Unfair and Deceptive practices in making commercial loans to finance the sale of a single family residence. The matter was referred to the Attorney General by William Lund, the Superintendant of the Bureau Consumer Credit Protection.

Attorney General Steve Rowe praised the passage of L.D. 1428, “An Act to Facilitate Reporting by Maine Financial Institutions of Elder Financial Exploitation”. This legislation provides immunity to banks and other financial institutions for good faith disclosures of suspected financial exploitation of dependent adults.

“This law provides Maine people an additional resource to help shield seniors from abuse, neglect and exploitation.” Rowe said. “The fundamental role of government is to protect the most vulnerable among us. By enacting this law we have done just that.”

Alcohol Industry Urged to Follow Beam’s Lead

Attorney General Steve Rowe praised Beam Global today for adopting a comprehensive set of new policies designed to reduce exposure of its advertising to underage persons. Beam Global is the largest distilled spirits company based in the U.S. Beam Global adopted these measures following talks with state Attorneys General from around the country. Attorney General Rowe joined 36 other Attorneys General in calling on members of the alcohol beverage industry to follow Beam’s lead.

This is Consumer Protection Week.

Attorney General Steven Rowe today used the occasion of Consumer Protection Week to highlight a little-known but very important protection for Maine Consumers. Maine law provides automatic warranty protection in addition to any "express" written or verbal warranty provided by a seller or manufacturer.

In general, the implied warranty law applies to new or used consumer items that:

Attorney General Steven Rowe advises individuals, businesses and other entities, including colleges and universities and State agencies, who maintain computerized data containing personal information, that effective January 31, 2007, they will become subject to the Notice of Risk to Personal Data Act, 10 M.R.S.A. S1346-1349 (Data Act). The Data Act requires notification to consumers when there has been a security breach of computerized data containing their personal information that could result in identity theft.

As required by 5 M.R.S. § 200-K, the Maine Deadly Force Review Panel submits the following report on the use of deadly force incident in Rumford on October 30, 2023, involving Corporal Joshua Alyward and Deputy Matthew Steinort, which resulted in the death of Sean Dyment, age 23. By statute, after the release of the report from the Attorney General, the Panel shall examine deaths or serious injuries resulting from the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers.