Legacy Cremation Services, its parent company Funeral & Cremation Group of North America, and owner Anthony Damiano paid $275,000 in civil penalties in April 2023 to settle FTC charges of deceptive pricing, misrepresenting facility locations, and illegally withholding cremated remains from families who refused to pay undisclosed additional fees.

Legacy Cremation Services, LLC — Deceptive Pricing, Withheld Remains (2019–2022)

Outcome: Legacy Cremation Services, Funeral & Cremation Group of North America, and owner Anthony Joseph Damiano paid $275,000 in civil penalties in April 2023 and agreed to strict operational requirements after the FTC charged them with Funeral Rule violations including deceptive pricing, location misrepresentation, and illegally withholding cremated remains.

Legacy Cremation Services, LLC operated under the doing-business-as name "Heritage Cremation Provider." The FTC lawsuit, filed in April 2022 through the Department of Justice, alleged three categories of unlawful conduct.

First, Legacy misrepresented its location and operational capacity. The company did not own or operate a single crematory; instead it acted as a broker, taking customer payments and contracting with third-party crematories and funeral homes — without clearly disclosing this arrangement to consumers who believed they were dealing directly with a cremation provider.

Second, Legacy engaged in systematic deceptive pricing. The company advertised low-end cremation prices as low as $695 on its website. Consumers rarely received services at the advertised price; instead, undisclosed fees were added after families had already committed to the service following the death of a loved one — a moment of extreme vulnerability and limited ability to comparison shop.

Third, and most egregiously, when families refused to pay the previously undisclosed fees and higher prices, Damiano and his companies illegally withheld or threatened to withhold the cremated remains of their loved ones as leverage. This conduct — holding human remains hostage — is explicitly prohibited under the FTC Funeral Rule and represents one of the most serious consumer protection violations in the funeral industry.

The April 2023 settlement required the defendants to pay $275,000 in civil penalties and comply with strict operational requirements governing how they communicate with customers, disclose prices, and handle remains. The case was litigated by the FTC with DOJ filing the complaint in federal court.

Primary Source: FTC Action Leads to Civil Penalties, Strict Requirements for Funeral and Cremation Provider That Withheld Remains