U.S., Psychic Network Reach Temporary Deal

The government and Miss Cleo’s psychic hotline have reached a temporary meeting of the minds allowing the telephone service to keep predicting while an investigator looks into charges that it has defrauded customers.

U.S. District Judge Alan Gold of the Southern District of Florida has approved a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission under which a court-appointed auditor will monitor all past, present and future activities of Access Resource Services Inc. and Psychic Readers Network.

The two Fort Lauderdale, Fla., companies have a national network of “psychic readers,” led by Jamaican soothsayer “Miss Cleo,” that promises insights in matters of love and money.

Under the preliminary injunction, the companies are required to disclose in their advertisements the cost of their pay-per-call service; stop representing that callers receive a “free reading;” and stop using toll-free telephone numbers in ads without disclosing that the service is accessed through 900 numbers.