Federal Chief Judge Gloria Navarro has ordered Scott Tucker and the payday loan companies he owns, including Level 5 Motorsports LLC and AMG Capital Management LLC, to pay the Federal Trade Commission $1.27 billion for misleading customers.
Tucker’s companies routinely deceived those seeking payday loans, stating that they would pay a much lower finance charge. Loan charges of as much as 700% were then later added to the amount the customer owed. Charges were brought against Tucker by the FTC in 2012 in a civil complaint.
In her decision, Navarro stated that she believed Tucker knew customers were not aware of the exact loan terms and that he was, at best, “recklessly indifferent” to how his companies were marketing the rates. She continued that she believed Tucker and his companies had been engaging in duplicitous lending conduct for the past eight years, and possibly longer.
Prior to this ruling, Tucker had issued a statement arguing that his businesses did not intentionally mislead consumers and that all of the loans made through these companies complied with industry regulations.
In addition to the fine, Tucker has been banned from making any further loans to consumers in Nevada.
Tucker is also currently under investigation in Manhattan, where he is accused of operating a payday lending scam that has collected some $2 billion from 4.5 million borrowers. Tucker has pled not guilty to these criminal charges.
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