Settlement

Psychic hot line forgives $500 million in debts

Trading fortunes told for a fortune lost, the companies behind Miss Cleo’s psychic hot line agreed Thursday to forgive $500 million in customer bills to settle a federal lawsuit alleging they fleeced callers hoping to glimpse the future.

Access Resource Services Inc. and Psychic Readers Network Inc. also agreed to stop selling their services over the phone and pay the government a $5 million fine, the Federal Trade Commission said.

The two Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based companies ” owned by Steven Feder and Peter Stolz ” promoted a national network of “psychic readers” on television and the Internet.

Howard Beales, director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said there was no truth in Miss Cleo’s prognostications.

“I’m no psychic but I can foresee this: If you make deceptive claims, there is an FTC action in your future,” he said in announcing the settlement.

Economy

Retail sales steady

Consumers bought fewer new cars but splurged on clothes, allowing sales at the nation’s retailers to hold steady in October. That raised hopes among economists that the holiday season might see shoppers acting more like Santas than the Grinches many had feared.

With consumer confidence tumbling to a nine-year low last month, dragged down in part by worries about a possible war with Iraq, Thursday’s Commerce Department report showing retail sales managed to stay level after plummeting by 1.3 percent in September provided a dose of cheer to Wall Street investors.

October’s sales ” better than the 0.2 percent decline analysts were expecting ” also reinforced economists’ belief that consumers will open their pocketbooks and wallets enough to prevent the sputtering economy from sliding back into recession.

Cable

Former Adelphia leader pleads guilty to fraud

Members of the Rigas family conspired to lie to the public and plunder the cable TV system owner Adelphia Communications Corp., a former executive said Thursday as he pleaded guilty to securities fraud.

As part of his guilty plea in Manhattan federal court, James Brown, the former vice president of finance at Adelphia, has promised to testify against the family members about the scandal which cost investors billions of dollars.

Adelphia, based in Coudersport, Pa., sought bankruptcy court protection from its creditors on June 25.

All of the men named by Brown have been charged in the case, and all have pleaded innocent.

Coming Saturday

A Lawrence attorney helped a former Lawrence family sue an out-of-state amusement park over safety concerns related to one of its rides.