Stop me if you've heard this one before -- one of Glenn Beck's dwindling Fox News advertisers has a history of legal problems and allegedly shady practices.

As Media Matters has documented, after Beck called President Obama a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people,” most legitimate companies began refusing to advertise on his show. Filling that hole is a bevy of shady companies with a history of defrauding customers.

One of the ads running on Beck's program, and elsewhere on cable, features radio host and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson pitching reverse mortgages from American Advisors Group to senior citizens.

As Gawker's Jim Newell noted yesterday, AAG was sued earlier this year by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan “for using unfair and deceptive marketing practices to solicit seniors for reverse mortgages.”

Additionally, in September 2008, the Massachusetts Division of Banks issued a cease-and-desist order against AAG “for engaging in unfair and deceptive advertising practices involving reverse mortgage products.”

American Advisors Group engaged in a direct mail campaign in which reverse mortgage loans were marketed as government benefits, according to state officials.

The order forbids American Advisors Group from initiating any new mortgage loan transactions and requires pending applications to be placed with a qualified lender. In addition, the company has been ordered to cease its advertising in Massachusetts and give the state a complete list of all individuals to which its direct mail advertisements were sent.

Thompson, who currently hosts a radio program for Westwood One, was announced as a spokesman for AAG on June 10. Thompson stated that he's “proud to join AAG's efforts. In this tough economic climate, it's important that America's seniors know all their options, and have the facts they need to make informed decisions about their financial and retirement futures.”

From the June 28 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck: