Although it became effective in early 1969, the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act of 1968 (ILSFDA)¹ has seen little use as a tool to control unscrupulous sales and development techniques used by subdividers who market their projects to distant audiences. Only seven indictments have been filed under the Act, the most recent coming in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 27, 1973.² That action contains 27 counts alleging that Pocono International Corp., its management, and its subsidiaries failed to comply with the Act's procedural requirements and fraudulently represented the feasibility and availability of sewage treatment facilities.

The Act was passed in response to four main considerations.³ State laws have been largely ineffective in controlling conduct in what was largely a national industry. Second, many land development companies were acting fraudulently in this void to injure purchasers. Third, "fly-by-night" developers were not following through and completing their developments, to the detriment of prior purchasers and existing land use plans. Finally, the more-honest segments of the industry realized that dishonest promoters were giving the industry a bad image and harming legitimate sales.