Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Operator of debt relief scam settles FTC charges, (Oct 5, 2015)
Organizations Mentioned:DebtPro 123 LLC
By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.
The head of a sham debt relief operation agreed to a judgment of more than $7.9 million to settle FTC charges that he deceived consumers and charged those consumers thousands of dollars while providing nothing in return, the agency announced today (FTC v. DebtPro 123 LLC, File No. 132-3112).
According to the FTC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in May 2014, DebtPro and several affiliated companies advertised and marketed services that purported to resolve consumer debts.
Since October 2008, the defendants allegedly told consumers that their programs would settle all of the consumers’ debts and repair their credit. The defendants instructed the consumers to stop paying and communicating with creditors, which led to more debt and worse credit because of accrued interest, late charges, creditor lawsuits, garnished wages, and sometimes bankruptcy.
Under proposed stipulated court orders, the scheme’s ringleader, Bryan Taylor, and co-defendants Ryan Foland, Stacey Frion, and Kara Wilbur Taylor are banned from selling debt relief products or services. They also are prohibited from making unsubstantiated claims for any product or service, and making material misrepresentations, either directly or through others, about any product or service. In addition, they are barred from: telemarketing without keeping certain records and making certain disclosures; profiting from customers’ personal information; and failing to properly dispose of customer information.
In the proposed stipulated order against Taylor, which imposes a judgment representing the total amount of consumer harm–more than $7.9 million, Taylor admits to the allegations made against him in the FTC’s complaint. The proposed orders against Foland, Frion, and Kara Taylor impose the same judgment, which will be suspended upon the surrender of certain assets by Foland. The full judgments will become due immediately if Foland, Frion or Kara Taylor are found to have misrepresented their financial condition. The FTC is seeking default judgments against the six corporate defendants: DebtPro 123 LLC, Allstar Processing Corp., Allstar Debt Relief LLC, Allstar Debt Relief LLC, Redwave Management Group Inc., and BET Companies Inc.
Companies: DebtPro 123 LLC
News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews