GSM — Registered Agent Network Locks Family’s Mail, Then Cuts Service

GSM — Registered Agent Network Locks Family’s Mail, Then Cuts Service Oct 9, 2026

The article

Headline: One Company, Many Names: A Registered Agent Network Locked a California Family’s Mail, Then Cut Them Off

Deck: A Wyoming-based firm that serves as the legal mailbox for hundreds of thousands of companies charged an elderly couple’s businesses to see their own government mail, then terminated all 14 accounts a week after the family complained.

By Good Shepherd Media · October 2026

When a company hires a registered agent, it is hiring the one party the law trusts to receive its lawsuits, tax notices, and state filings. If that agent fails, a business can lose a case it never knew existed.

For Teresa Zullo, 79, and Fred Zullo, 86, that trust broke down this fall. The couple’s family businesses, 14 limited liability companies holding real estate and family enterprises, learned that government mail addressed to them had been sitting in an account they had closed more than a year earlier. It was locked behind fees.

Two brands, one mothership

Since at least October 2024, the family had used Wyoming Registered Agent Services LLC, which operates wyomingagents.com. By spring 2025, unhappy with the service, they planned to switch to delawareregisteredagent.com, run by A Registered Agent, Inc. of Dover, Delaware.

First, they called to make sure the two were not the same company. On a call the company announced was being recorded, Philip Zullo asked, “You guys are not Delaware registered agents, right?” A representative answered, “No, just Wyoming.” Teresa Zullo was present for the call.

The family moved all 14 companies to the Delaware brand on or about May 26, 2025.

A later recorded call told a different story. A representative said the brands are “owned by the same corporation, so to speak,” and that their “mothership company” is Registered Agents Inc. of Sheridan, Wyoming (registeredagentsinc.com). The termination notice the family later received came from that company’s own address, highvalue@registeredagentsinc.com.

The public record points the same way. The two brands publish nearly identical terms of service. Both choose Washington State law and federal court in Spokane. Both websites run analytics through corporatetools.com; Corporate Tools LLC is owned by Registered Agents Inc. The Delaware brand’s own website describes a local company that “began as a one-person operation out of a private home in Delaware” and promises clients “your information stays with us.”

Mail in the wrong mailbox

This September, the Los Angeles County Assessor told the family it had sent mail that never appeared in their paid Delaware account. Philip Zullo, who manages the companies, tried logging into the old Wyoming account. His login still worked more than a year later.

Inside were 83 documents for the family’s companies, dated from December 4, 2025 to September 10, 2026, including a state notice and a high-priority item. All were locked. On September 10, an email from Registered Agents Inc. required $622.50 to unlock them; the invoice was billed to one of the family’s companies but covered every entity in the account. Further items carried per-document fees.

On September 30, Zullo wrote to the company that “Wyoming is hiding mail for companies no longer paid for” while the family’s paid accounts were with the Delaware brand. The company acknowledged the issue the next day.

Terminated in a single afternoon

On October 8, Registered Agents Inc. sent a “formal notice” that it would end “all services for the companies currently in your account, effective October 8, 2026.” The email said “our business goals and practices are not aligned.” It said mail received afterward “will be locked and subject to a $50 access fee per item.”

Within minutes, the Delaware brand sent 14 emails, one per company, stating that services had been “updated as requested.” The family says it made no such request. Zullo replied that night: “What are you talking about?”

The company’s notice promised refunds of recent payments and told the family to file new registered agents with each state. Under Wyoming and Delaware law, a company that loses its agent and does not replace it in time can be dissolved or canceled.

A duty with no fiduciary?

Registered agents act on a company’s behalf, and some courts treat that role as one of trust. In 2017, a federal appeals court revived a breach-of-fiduciary-duty claim against a registered agent whose handling of legal papers left a company facing a $9.7 million default judgment (International Environmental Management v. United Corporate Services, 8th Cir.).

The terms used by both brands say the opposite. They state that their services create no fiduciary duty, cap liability at one year of fees, and give the company alone the right to force disputes into private arbitration. They also say that on termination the company is released from any duty to notify clients of lawsuits or mail, even if its address remains on state records.

California law adds protections for older residents. The state’s Elder Abuse Act defines financial abuse to include depriving an elder of a property right, including through an agreement, when the business knew or should have known its conduct was likely to be harmful (Welfare and Institutions Code § 15610.30). Whether that law reaches mail held for the couple’s companies is a question for the courts.

A firm under scrutiny before

Registered Agents Inc., founded in 2008, operates from 30 N. Gould St. in Sheridan, Wyoming. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported in March 2025 that more than 266,000 companies were incorporated using that address between 2019 and 2024. Wired reported in 2024 that the firm used fictitious names on filings, which the firm called “patently wrong.” In May 2024, Wyoming’s Secretary of State dissolved three companies registered through the firm that the FBI linked to North Korean fraud.

A company spokesperson told ICIJ that registered agents “provide an avenue for legal notices to be served” and that the firm takes “appropriate steps to terminate service as a commercial registered agent when necessary or required.”

What the family wants

The Zullos have sent the companies a certified-mail Notice of Dispute, which the companies’ terms require before any suit. They are asking for release of all mail in both accounts without charge, a refund of the unlock fees, time to move their companies without a lapse, and a written account of how the brands are related.

“All my accounts are with Delaware and mail is paid for,” Zullo wrote to the company in September. “But Wyoming is hiding mail.”

Good Shepherd Media sent written questions to Registered Agents Inc., A Registered Agent, Inc., and Wyoming Registered Agent Services LLC on October ___, 2026. [Insert their response here, or: The companies did not respond by publication time.]

What happens next

The termination leaves the family a short window. Wyoming law requires an agent to give a company 30 days’ notice before filing its resignation with the state. After that, a company that does not name a new agent can be administratively dissolved. In Delaware, an LLC that fails to replace a resigning agent within 30 days has its certificate of formation canceled.

The family is appointing new agents for all 14 companies and asking the government agencies that write to them to update their records. Mail already sitting in the two old accounts is a separate fight. The companies’ terms say paper originals are destroyed 30 days after they are scanned.

The companies’ terms require the Zullos to wait 60 days after their Notice of Dispute before filing suit. If the dispute is not resolved, the family plans to file in Los Angeles County small claims court. The terms say disputes belong in Spokane, Washington, or in private arbitration, so the companies may challenge where the case is heard.

For Teresa Zullo, the lesson is simple. “We asked them directly if they were the same company,” she said. “They said no.” [Confirm this quote with Teresa, or delete it.]

The companies answer for hundreds of thousands of businesses whose owners may never check an old login. The Zullos found their mail only because a county office told them to look.

If you use a registered agent

• Log into every account you have ever opened with a registered agent, including old ones.
• Ask your agent in writing which company owns it, and which address the state lists for you.
• Check your state business record once a year to confirm your agent and address.
• Keep a second mailing address with your county assessor and tax agencies.

Web publishing package (goodshepherdmedia.net)

Redact account numbers, invoice links, and email signatures of junior staff in any screenshot. Name the company, not the individual employees; the reps on the calls and the account representative who signed the termination are not public figures.

Customer review (post from your own account)

Post one review per platform, under your own name, on Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, and the BBB for each brand. Stick to what happened to you and what the documents show.

Rating: 1 star

Title: Paid for mail in one portal, found it locked in another, then they dropped all 14 of our companies

Full review (Google, Trustpilot, BBB):

We managed 14 family LLCs through delawareregisteredagent.com (A Registered Agent, Inc.). Before switching from wyomingagents.com, I called to ask whether the two companies were related. On a recorded line, the rep told me “No, just Wyoming.” A later rep told me they are “owned by the same corporation” and their “mothership” is Registered Agents Inc.

This September, our county assessor told us it had mailed items that never showed up in our paid Delaware account. I logged into our old Wyoming account, and the login still worked more than a year later. Inside were 83 documents for our companies, going back to December 2025, all locked. They charged us $622.50 to unlock them, plus per-item fees.

I reported in writing that one portal was holding mail we had paid for in the other. They acknowledged it. A week later, on October 8, they terminated every company in our account the same day. Minutes later we got 14 emails saying our services were cancelled “as requested.” We never requested anything. Any mail they get for us now is locked at $50 an item.

A registered agent’s job is to make sure you get your legal and government mail. Ours ended up in the wrong account behind a paywall, and when we complained, we were cut off with almost no notice. Our owners are 79 and 86.

If you use any of these brands, log into every account you have ever opened with them, including old ones, and check your state business records. I would not trust them with a company I cared about.

Short version (Yelp, review sites with limits):

They told us on a recorded call that wyomingagents.com and delawareregisteredagent.com were not related. They are both owned by Registered Agents Inc. We paid for mail through the Delaware brand, but government mail for our 14 companies sat locked in our old Wyoming account until we paid $622.50 to see it. A week after we reported the problem, they terminated all our companies in one afternoon and emailed that it was “as requested.” It wasn’t. Avoid.

Where to post:

• Google Business profile for A Registered Agent, Inc., 8 The Green, Dover, DE (the company’s About Us page links its Google reviews)
• Google Business profile for Wyoming Registered Agent Services LLC, Sheridan, WY
• Google Business profile for Registered Agents Inc., Sheridan, WY
• BBB: file a complaint (not just a review) against each brand; companies must respond to complaints
• Trustpilot and Yelp: “A Registered Agent” (Dover) listing

Rules that keep a review safe: post only under your own name; do not have friends or family post reviews of things they did not experience. Teresa may post her own review in her own words, since she was on the calls. Do not call them “criminals” or “thieves”; stating what happened, with numbers and quotes, is more persuasive and protected as truthful. Ask Mr. Simran whether to post before or after the 60-day notice period, since the company may quote your review in arbitration or court.

Timeline (sidebar)

The dispute ran 17 months from the recorded denial to termination.