BRIGHTON -- An Adams County District judge ruled that a Westminster-based debt elimination firm, which was the focus of a CALL7 investigation, should remain shut down until a trial to determine whether the company misled clients.

Judge Edward Moss put in place a preliminary injunction Thursday freezing at least $150,000 in assets from Real Talk Network and affiliated companies run by radio personality Dave Burke. The injunction means Burke's debt elimination companies can not take in new clients or pay current employees.

In May, a CALL7 investigation found Real Talk was taking advantage of clients who were deeply in debt and not offering promised services or standing by a money back guarantee some clients were promised in their contracts.

After the report, the Colorado Attorney General’s office raided Real Talk’s Westminster headquarters and served Burke with a temporary restraining order requiring him to stop doing business. The AG filing said Real Talk Network “deceived, misled, and financially injured consumers.”

Moss placed an injunction on the company to prevent it from operating until trial, which is expected to be sometime next year.

Soon after the CALL7 Investigation aired, the company's name was changed from Real Talk Network to the Institute of Consumer Economic Education. The Attorney General's office was independently investigating the company at the same time as the CALL7 Investigators.

In May and earlier this month, Burke declined attempts to talk to CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski about the CALL7 or AG investigations.

The AG's office said Burke pitched his product on the Internet and on radio infomercials disguised to seem like nationally syndicated shows and that Burke lied about his financial background, his expertise, and his company's ties with banks and credit companies.

Burke's debt-relief program could cost a consumer anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000. Those who signed up, and could not afford the program or did not pay the full contracted amount, would be sent to a collection agency without any notice of the consumer's rights, explained the court filing.

CALL7 Investigators found that despite calling debt “dangerous,” Burke had a bankruptcy in his past and owed more than $100,000 in taxes to the IRS, liens and federal court documents showed.

On the first day of the hearing, Wednesday, a lawyer in the Attorney General’s office said restitution could exceed the seven-figure mark if the AG proves Burke was operating a business that deceived clients.