Credit Bureaus & Data Brokers · Data broker (marketing data) · Regulatory action
Epsilon (Publicis)
Headline
In January 2021 Epsilon Data Management entered a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and agreed to pay $150 million.
Not independently verified. Verification status: Unverified - heuristic first draft. Publish state: draft unverified.
In January 2021 Epsilon Data Management entered a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ and agreed to pay $150 million. Epsilon admitted that its Direct-to-Consumer unit knowingly sold modeled consumer lists to clients running mail-fraud schemes that targeted elderly and vulnerable people between 2008 and 2017. It also admitted the unit sold more than 30 million consumers' data to those schemes. This is the clearest documented case in this tab of a data broker's lists being used directly to defraud consumers.
- Severity
- Evidence tierUnassigned
- Claims confirmed
- Last verified2026-10-16
Primary source. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/marketing-company-agrees-pay-150-million-facilitating-elder-fraud-schemes — Unverified - heuristic first draft.
Terms
Arbitration
N/A - no consumer contract (B2B).
Data sharing
CA 2026 registry filing (self-reported): sold or shared consumer data with a FOREIGN actor in the past year = Yes; minors = No; precise geolocation = No; federal government = No; FCRA = No. 2025 request volumes it reported: 4,985 deletion requests (2,691 complied, 2,294 denied, a high denial share) and 87,942 opt-outs (all complied). Its request page describes its business as 'licensing of consumer data'.
Fees and billing
None: no consumer billing relationship.
Contacts
Privacy contact. privacy@epsilon.com; +1-866-267-3861
Legal notice. 6021 Connection Drive, Irving, TX 75039 (CA registry filing). Not verified this pass beyond the address the company gave in its California data broker registration (see sources). Registered agent: check the Secretary of State of the state of formation.
Mailing address. Not recorded.
Evidence
No claims have been itemized for this row yet.
Sources
| Source | Claim | Tier | Status | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOJ press release · 2021-01-27 www.justice.gov/opa/pr/marketing-company-agrees-pay-150-million-facilitating-elder-fraud-schemes | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “Epsilon admitted that the DTC Unit sold more than 30 million consumers' data to fraudulent schemes.” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| DOJ press release · 2021-01-27 www.justice.gov/opa/pr/marketing-company-agrees-pay-150-million-facilitating-elder-fraud-schemes | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “Epsilon agreed to pay a total of $150 million, with $127.5 million of that amount going to compensate victims” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| DOJ press release (seen in search results only) · 2026-10-16 www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-senior-executive-and-former-sales-manager-convicted-selling-data-millions-us | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “former senior executive and former sales manager convicted selling data millions us” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| Regulator registry (CSV) · 2026-07-29 cppa.ca.gov/data_broker_registry/registry.csv | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “Epsilon Data Management, LLC | www.epsilon.com | privacy@epsilon.com | 6021 Connection Drive | Irving | TX” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| Company privacy request page · 2026-10-16 legal.epsilon.com/dsr/ | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “For US consumers who prefer not to submit your request online, please call +1-866-267-3861.” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| Regulator registry page (CalPrivacy/CPPA) · 2026-07-29 cppa.ca.gov/data_broker_registry/ | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “Data brokers are required to begin processing these requests on August 1, 2026.” Quote basis: not recorded. |
Source vault
Link status: Candidate - not yet fetched
| Document | Last fetch | |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy policy https://legal.epsilon.com/dsr/ | Not fetched yet | NOT CONFIRMED |
| Terms of service No URL recorded | Not fetched yet | NOT CONFIRMED |
| Website https://www.epsilon.com | Not fetched yet | — |
| Primary source https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/marketing-company-agrees-pay-150-million-facilitating-elder-fraud-schemes Verification: Unverified - heuristic first draft | Not fetched yet | — |
Enforcement
No enforcement actions are linked to this row.
State statute
Headquarters on file: TX. Provisions of TDPSA on file:
| Provision | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sensitive Data — Opt-In Consent Required Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.001(31); § 541.101(b)(4) | hard | source |
| Applicability — SBA Size-Based, No Numerical Consumer Threshold Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.002 | threshold | source |
| Right to Access Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.051(b)(1) | hard | source |
| Right to Correction Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.051(b)(2) | hard | source |
| Right to Deletion Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.051(b)(3) | hard | source |
| Right to Data Portability Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.051(b)(4) | hard | source |
| Right to Opt Out of Sale, Targeted Advertising, and Profiling Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.051(b)(5) | hard | source |
| Right to Appeal Denied Request Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.053 | hard | source |
| Privacy Notice Requirements Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.102(a) | hard | source |
| Specific Notice Required for Sale of Sensitive Personal Data Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.102(b)-(c) | hard | source |
| Processor Contract Requirements Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 541.104 | hard | source |
| Enforcement — AG Only; 30-Day Cure; No Private Right of Action Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §§ 541.151-541.156 | hard | source |