Ashley Madison Data Breach Settlement Reached with FTC

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The companies behind the adultery website Ashley Madison have reportedly agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission and a number of state attorney generals over a 2015 data breach that allegedly exposed the information of around 36 million users.

According to court documents filed this week in the District of Columbia, Ruby Corp. (formerly known as Avid Life Media Inc.), Ruby Life Inc. d/b/a AshleyMadison.com (formerly known as Avid Dating Life Inc.), and ADL Media Inc. have agreed to settle the data breach class action lawsuit.

The proposed Ashley Madison settlement will resolve allegations that the defendants lured customers to the website with fake profiles of women, and that they failed to adequately safeguard users’ personal data.

A judgment of $17.5 million has reportedly been imposed against the Ashley Madison operators, but all but $1.6 million of that amount will be suspended due to their inability to pay.

The Ashley Madison operators will also be required to implement a comprehensive data security program and have their practices audited by a third-party professional every two years.

“This case represents one of the largest data breaches that the FTC has investigated to date, implicating 36 million individuals worldwide,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “The global settlement requires AshleyMadison.com to implement a range of more robust data security practices that will better protect its users’ personal information from criminal hackers going forward.”

In addition to the FTC, the defendants have reportedly also reached similar settlements with the states of Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and the District of Columbia. The court documents indicate that the states and the FTC will coordinate the implementation of the Ashley Madison settlement terms.

After the Ashley Madison data breach was announced, the defendants were hit with more than a dozen data breach class action lawsuits by plaintiffs who were outraged that their private information was made public. The companies were also accused of deceiving potential customers by posting fake profiles of women in order to lure men into becoming members of the infidelity-promoting website.

A year ago, several of the Ashley Madison data breach class action lawsuits were grouped into multidistrict litigation in Missouri federal court. In August, the defendants reportedly asked a federal judge to halt the litigation and compel the plaintiffs to pursue arbitration to resolve the matter.

More information about the proposed Ashley Madison data breach settlements was not immediately available.

Top Class Actions will post updates to the FTC settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the green “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The FTC is represented by Shameka L. Walker and Andrea V. Arias.

The FTC Ashley Madison Data Breach Lawsuit is Federal Trade Commission v. Ruby Corp., et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-02438, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

 UPDATE: The Ashley Madison data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.