The settlement stems from a 2020 lawsuit against several companies and individuals for reported FDCPA violations.
5/23/2022 4:15 P.M.
1.5 minute read
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and New York attorney general have filed a proposed stipulated judgment in the U.S. District Court-Western District of New York to settle a 2020 case against an “enterprise” and its owners and managers, according to a news release.
The judgment would order all participants in the operation, based in upstate New York, to exit the debt collection market and pay $4 million in penalties, according to the news release.
The defendant companies include JPL Recovery Solutions; Regency One Capital; ROC Asset Solutions, which does business as API Recovery Solutions and Northern Information Services; Check Security Associates, which does business as Warner Location Services, Pinnacle Location Services, and Orchard Payment Processing Systems; Keystone Recovery Group; and Blue Street Asset Partners. The individual defendants are owners Christopher Di Re, Scott Croce, and Susan Croce, as well as Brian Koziel and Marc Gracie, who acted as managers of some or all of the companies.
The companies are interrelated businesses based out of a single location in Getzville, New York, according to the CFPB.
“The debt came from high-interest personal loans, payday loans, credit cards, and other sources. The network then attempted to collect debts from about 293,000 consumers, generating gross revenues of approximately $93 million between 2015 and 2020,” the CFPB reports.
The CFPB and the New York attorney general allege that the companies violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act.
The defendants also must pay a $2 million penalty to the CFPB, which will be deposited into the CFPB’s victim relief fund, and a $2 million penalty to the New York attorney general. If the defendants fail to make timely payments, however, each penalty amount due would increase to $2.5 million.
Read the CFPB’s proposed settlement here.
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