DEBT COLLECTOR PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM BUSINESS FOR ALLEGED ACTS OF DECEPTION, FALSE THREATS, INSULTS AND UNAUTHORIZED FEES

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FTC 

FTC Puts Texas-based Operation Permanently Out of the Debt Collection Business After It Allegedly Used Deception, Insults, and False Threats against Consumers

Operation also Charged Unauthorized Fees; Owner Will Surrender His Assets

The owner of a Houston-based debt collection operation that the FTC charged used insults, lies, and false threats of imprisonment to collect on payday loans will surrender his assets, estimated to be worth $550,000, to pay restitution to consumers who were charged unauthorized fees. All the defendants will be permanently banned from debt collection under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

In 2013, at the request of the FTC, a U.S. district court shut down Goldman Schwartz, Inc., froze its assets, and appointed a receiver to take control of the business while the case was in litigation. The debt collection operation did business nationwide, collecting primarily on payday loans. In some cases it owned the debt, and in others, it acted as a third-party collector. The operation was charged with multiple violations of both the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

“Debt collectors who harass consumers, make false threats, and charge bogus fees are violating federal law and will be held accountable,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The defendants  were charged with making false threats that consumers would be arrested and jailed, and that their children would be taken into custody; falsely claiming to be attorneys or to work hand-in-hand with local sheriff’s offices; disclosing debts to consumers’ employers and military superiors; and collecting bogus late fees and attorneys’ fees, according to the complaint.

The defendants also harassed and abused consumers by using obscene language and by calling repeatedly and at odd hours early in the morning or late at night, and failed to inform consumers of their rights to dispute the debts, have the debts verified, and obtain the names of the original creditors, the complaint alleged.

The settlement resolves FTC allegations against company owner Gerald Wright, company managers Starlette Foster and Jennifer Zamora, and several corporate defendants. The settlement requires Wright to surrender his assets, estimated at $550,000, which include funds from personal and business accounts and proceeds from the sale of realty. The remainder of a $1.4 million judgment against Wright is suspended based on inability to pay. The judgment against Foster and Zamora also is suspended due to their inability to pay. If it is later determined that the financial information the defendants provided the FTC was false, the full amount of the judgment will become due.

The monetary judgment will be used to pay restitution to consumers who were charged unauthorized late fees and attorneys’ fees, often in the hundreds of dollars. The defendants privately referred to these bogus fees as “Juice,” and used them to inflate the cost to consumers who wished to settle their debts, the complaint alleged.

Also under the order, the defendants are prohibited from misrepresenting the characteristics of any financial product or service.

As part of its continuing crackdown on scams that target consumers in financial distress, the complaint named as defendants Goldman, Schwartz Inc, doing business as Goldman, Schwartz, Lieberman & Stein; Debtcom, Inc., doing business as Cole, Tanner, & Wright; Harris County Check Recovery Inc.; and The G. Wright Group Inc., doing business as The Wright Group. Under the terms of the order, these companies will be dissolved.

For consumer information about dealing with debt collectors, see Debt Collection.

The Commission vote approving the proposed consent decree was 5-0. It is subject to court approval. The FTC filed the proposed consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on May 19, 2014.

NOTE: Consent decrees have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

CITY OF VICTORVILLE AND OTHERS CHARGED WITH DEFRAUDING MUNICIPAL BOND INVESTORS

FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

SEC Charges City of Victorvile, Underwriter, and Others with Defrauding Municipal Bond Investors

Washington, D.C., April 29, 2013 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged that the City of Victorville, Calif., a city official, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, and Kinsell, Newcomb & DeDios (KND), the underwriter of the Airport Authority’s bonds, defrauded investors by inflating valuations of property securing an April 2008 municipal bond offering.

Victorville Assistant City Manager and former Director of Economic Development Keith C. Metzler, KND owner J. Jeffrey Kinsell, and KND Vice President Janees L. Williams were responsible for false and misleading statements made in the Airport Authority’s 2008 bond offering, the SEC alleged. It also charged that KND, working through a related party, misused more than $2.7 million of bond proceeds to keep itself afloat.

"Financing redevelopment projects by selling municipal bonds based on inflated valuations violates the public trust as well as the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws," said George S. Canellos, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. "Public officials have the same obligation as corporate officials to tell the truth to their investors."

Elaine C. Greenberg, Chief of the SEC’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, said, "Investors are entitled to full disclosure of material financial arrangements entered into by related parties. Underwriters who secretly line their own pockets by taking unauthorized fees will be held accountable."

The SEC alleges the Airport Authority, which is controlled by the City of Victorville, undertook a variety of redevelopment projects, including the construction of four airplane hangars on a former Air Force base. It financed the projects by issuing tax increment bonds, which are solely secured by and repaid from property-tax increases attributable to increases in the assessed value of property in the redevelopment project area.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, by April 2008, the Airport Authority was forced to refinance part of the debt incurred to construct the hangars, and other projects, by issuing additional bonds. The principal amount of the new bond issue was partly based on Metzler, Williams, and Kinsell using a $65 million valuation for the airplane hangars even though they knew the county assessor valued the hangars at less than half that amount. The inflated figure allowed the Airport Authority to issue substantially more bonds and raise more money than it otherwise would have. It also meant that investors were given false information about the value of the security available to repay them.

In addition, the SEC’s investigation found that Kinsell, KND, and another of his companies misappropriated more than $2.7 million in bond proceeds that were supposed to be used to build airplane hangars for the Airport Authority. According to the SEC’s complaint, the scheme began when Kinsell learned of allegations that the contractor building the hangars had likely diverted bond proceeds for his own personal use. When the contractor was removed, Kinsell stepped in to oversee the hangar project through another company he owned, KND Affiliates, LLC, even though Kinsell had no construction experience.

The SEC alleges that the Airport Authority loaned KND Affiliates more than $60 million in bond proceeds for the hangar project and agreed that as compensation for the project, KND Affiliates would receive a construction management fee of two percent of the remaining cost of construction. However, Kinsell and KND Affiliates took an additional $450,000 in unauthorized fees to oversee the construction and took $2.3 million in fees that the Airport Authority was unaware of and never agreed to, purportedly as compensation to "manage" the hangars. The SEC alleges that Kinsell and KND Affiliates hid these fees from the Airport Authority representatives and from the auditors who reviewed KND Affiliates’ books and records.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that the Airport Authority, Kinsell, KND, and KND Affiliates violated the antifraud provisions of U.S. securities laws and that KND violated 15B(c)(1) of the Exchange Act and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rules G-17, G-27 and G-32(a)(iii)(A)(2). The complaint also alleges that Victorville, Metzler, KND, Kinsell, and Williams aided and abetted various violations. The SEC is seeking the return of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions against all of the defendants, as well as the return of ill-gotten gains from relief defendant KND Holdings, the parent company of KND.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Robert H. Conrrad and Theresa M. Melson in the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, and Lorraine B. Echavarria, Todd S. Brilliant, and Dora M. Zaldivar of the Los Angeles Regional Office. Sam S. Puathasnanon will lead the SEC’s litigation.