Jesse Willms

Jesse Willms is a Canadian entrepreneur and businessman who has founded several companies, including eDirect Software, Car History Group, and Just Think Media.

Since 2006, Willms has been involved in several controversies related to his online businesses using negative option billing, a practice in which customers are charged for products or services unless they actively opt out. This practice of negative option billing has resulted in multiple lawsuits against Willms. In effect, this meant that consumers signing up for "free trials" of a product were charged with extra fees hidden in the fine print of the terms and conditions. Often consumers first became aware of this after their credit cards had been charged. Also, several different company names appeared on their statements of account, each with a charge of an uneven dollar amount. The FTC claimed that these charges made up the majority of Willms' profits because consumers believed they were legitimate.

Lawsuit In May 2011, after an 18-month investigation, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Willms. The lawsuit claimed that Willms, from 2007 to 2011, had conned approximately $467 million from customers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand. In September 2011, a U.S. District Court Judge froze Willms' assets and prohibited him from continuing to sell products through negative-option billing. In early 2012, Willms acquiesced to a $359 million settlement. As part of the settlement, Willms also agreed to sell off personal property, including his mansion.