SEATTLE — A Seattle-area plastic surgery provider must pay $5 million to the state attorney general’s office and thousands of Washingtonians after being accused of illegally manipulating online customer reviews and threatening patients, according to a federal consent decree filed Monday.
The consent decree resolves the lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson in December 2022, which accuses Allure Esthetic and owner Dr. Javad Sajan of violating state and federal consumer protection laws by posting fake reviews and forcing patients to sign nondisclosure agreements.
The resolution, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, requires Allure to pay about $1.5 million in restitution to about 21,000 Washingtonians, who will receive a letter from the attorney general with a check (either $50 or $120, depending on each person’s situation).
The rest of the $5 million will go to Ferguson’s office for attorney fees, costs of litigating the case, and future monitoring and enforcing of the consent decree, according to the resolution.
“Writing a truthful review about a business should not subject you to threats or intimidation,” Ferguson said in a statement Monday. “Consumers rely on reviews when determining who to trust, especially services that affect their health and safety. This resolution holds Allure accountable for brazenly violating that trust — and the law — and ensures the clinic stops its harmful conduct.”
Allure Esthetic could not be reached for comment via phone or email Monday.
Sajan, the owner of Allure, is based in Seattle — though Allure has offices throughout Washington and in other states — and provides surgical and nonsurgical services, including plastic and cosmetic procedures, according to the company’s website.
Allure also does business under the names of Gallery of Cosmetic Surgery, Seattle Plastic Surgery, Alderwood Surgical Center, Northwest Nasal Sinus Center and Northwest Face and Body, said the lawsuit, which specifically names Alderwood Surgical Center and Northwest Nasal Sinus Center as defendants, as they both have Washington business licenses.
The complaint accused Allure of several illegal business practices, including artificially inflating its ratings on websites like Yelp and Google by posting fake, positive reviews and suppressing real, negative reviews.
According to the lawsuit, the company also forced patients to sign illegal NDAs between 2017 and 2019 that banned them from posting or saying anything negative about Allure; rigged “best doctor” competitions hosted by local media outlets; applied for and kept tens of thousands of dollars in rebates intended for patients; and altered before-and-after photos of patient results Allure would then share on social media.
In addition, the complaint alleges Allure threatened to sue patients — and did sue several — if they didn’t take down negative reviews, offered money and free services to patients in exchange for removing a negative review, and told patients they would face a $250,000 fine if they posted negative reviews in the future.
Sajan “personally authorized” the amount of money or value of services offered to patients who posted negative comments about the company, the lawsuit said. He also allegedly directed employees to create fake email accounts in order to pose as patients and post positive reviews.
The complaint argued Allure’s actions violated the state Consumer Protection Act, and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Consumer Review Fairness Act. A federal judge in April agreed Allure’s NDAs violated HIPAA when the company required some patients to waive their privacy rights so it could respond to negative reviews with their personal health information.
In addition to ceasing all these practices and paying restitution, the Monday resolution also requires Allure to hire a third-party forensic accounting firm to conduct an independent audit of its consumer rebate program to identify people who are owed rebates, and, upon request, provide the attorney general’s office with proof of compliance with the terms of the consent decree for the next 10 years.
The accounting firm — global consulting company J.S. Held, which Allure hired in April — is expected to complete the audit in August.
Patients who will receive restitution checks should expect to hear from Ferguson’s office within the next 30 days. People who were forced to sign illegal NDAs will each receive $50, while those who paid a nonrefundable consultation fee before they were forced to sign an illegal NDA will receive $120 — a refund for the fee, plus interest.
Anyone whose rebates were also illegally claimed by Allure should also expect to hear from the company and receive money back.
If Allure or any of its related businesses violate a condition of the consent decree, they could face civil penalties up to $125,000 per violation.
“We will take action against any business that attempts to silence and intimidate honest Washingtonians,” Ferguson said in the statement.
