A Missouri political consultant who sent a Southeast Idaho lawmaker a $480 million invoice for work that was never requested has been permanently banned from doing business in the state, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced Friday.

Wasden’s Feb. 2 judgment against Eli B. Karabell requires him to pay his office $10,780 in civil penalties and attorney’s fees. Wasden also prohibited Karabell from sending invoices to Idaho consumers for unrequested services, attempting to collect debts in Idaho that consumers don’t owe and advertising or selling goods or services in Idaho or to the state’s consumers.

Karabell sent the invoice to Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, according to a press release by Wasden’s office.

Harris received the invoice last April from Karabell’s St. Louis-based company demanding payment of $480 million for “IP targeting and general caucus retention work for Idaho GOP Majority Slate [sic] Leadership Committee and affiliated PACs.”

Harris never requested the services and asked Karabell to stop contacting him, according to the press release. Instead, Wasden’s office said Karabell submitted a bill with Harris’ forged signature to a collection agency.

The collection agency alerted Harris that it had received a fraudulent invoice, and Wasden’s office subsequently filed suit in Ada County court against Karabell in July 2021, according to the press release.

“Billing a consumer for unordered services is unlawful,” Wasden said in the press release. “But spontaneously sending a bill for $480 million to a state senator is one of the most unusual things I’ve seen.”

The lawsuit alleged Karabell violated the Idaho Consumer Protection Act and the Idaho Rules of Consumer Protection.

“I appreciate the Office of the Attorney General, and especially his Consumer Protection Division, for their immediate attention to this unfortunate and alarming emailed invoice I received from Karabell Industries,” Harris said in the press release. “Idahoans can be proud of the protection their Attorney General provides to our citizens.”