Attorney General sues Illinois-based home services broker for deceiving homeowners by posing as local businesses
Files lawsuit against B.E.S.T GDR, LLC d/b/a Premium Home Services and owner Yosef Bernath for wide range of violations of Minnesota law
May 11, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit against Illinois-based B.E.S.T GDR, LLC d/b/a Premium Home Services (“PHS”) and its owner Yosef Bernath, alleging that they violated Minnesota consumer protection laws. PHS posed as hundreds of different, fictitious, local businesses throughout Minnesota in online listings to obtain business from Minnesotans. PHS subcontracted out the work their fictitious businesses were hired to do, at times to unlicensed and unqualified individuals. In other cases, consumers did not receive the services they paid for. Through its lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks to put an end to Defendants’ deceptive scheme, obtain restitution for harmed Minnesota consumers, as well as civil penalties and its costs of investigation and attorneys’ fees.
“Premium Home Services has been running an elaborate scheme to deceive, defraud, and ultimately harm Minnesotans, and I’m suing the company and its owner to put an end to that,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Premium Home Services knows how much people trust their local businesses and disgracefully posed as countless local businesses online to abuse that trust. While Premium Home Services’ method of cheating folks is distinctly modern, the con they ran is one of the oldest in the books: lie to honest people to trick them out of their hard-earned money. That cannot stand, and my team and I are going to hold this company and its owner accountable for the harm they have caused.”
The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, alleges that PHS and Yosef Bernath purchased advertising for hundreds of fake businesses corresponding to physical addresses in Minnesota at which no associated business was located. It further alleges that PHS and Yosef Bernath purchased local phone numbers to further the deception. When a consumer would call such a number for what the consumer believed to be a local home repair business, their call would be routed to an overseas call center run by PHS, with representatives trained by PHS to answer the phone as though they were employees of the fake local company.
The lawsuit further alleges that PHS and Yosef Bernath sold a subscription service to consumers, charged visit fees, and misled consumers into believing they were entering into long-term services contracts with a local home repair company when, in fact, PHS and Yosef Bernath were just middlemen that subcontracted all of the work they were hired to do.
To further the deception, the lawsuit alleges, PHS and Yosef Bernath arranged for fake reviews to be posted for its fake businesses. For example, as alleged in the complaint, a “Lance Smith” provided dozens of five-star reviews for electrical contractors in Minnesota and different cities across the country with remarkably similar language in or around January 2024:
The lawsuit comes after local homeowners complained to state regulators about subpar work performed by unlicensed or under-licensed workers. In June 2024, one Minnesotan called what she believed to be a plumbing company which turned out to be PHS posing as “Cottage Grove Plumbing.” The company sent a plumber who failed to fix the consumer’s issue; the consumer had to hire another plumber. It was later discovered that the plumber sent by PHS lacked appropriate licensure and was subjected to an administrative penalty by the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry. Some consumers have had to pay other companies to finish work that PHS’ subcontractors never completed.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General are also taking action against PHS and Yosef Bernath today by collectively filing suit against them in federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Attorney General Ellison encourages Minnesotans to submit complaints about PHS and Yosef Bernath, or any similar scheme by filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office via its online complaint form. The Office can also be reached by phone at (651) 296-3353 from within the Twin Cities or (800) 657-3787 from Greater Minnesota.
