Financial and Investment Fraud

February 4, 2015

Chief Judge Linda R. Reade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa ordered U.S. Bank National Association to pay $18 million dollars to be returned to Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. customers over allegations of misappropriation of customer funds.  CFTC

January 16, 2015

Two payday lending companies, AMG Services, Inc. and MNE Services, Inc., have settled FTC charges that they violated the law by charging consumers undisclosed and inflated fees. Under the proposed settlement the companies will pay $21 million – the largest FTC recovery in a payday lending case – and will waive another $285 million in charges that were assessed but not collected. The FTC noted that “the settlement requires these companies to turn over millions of dollars that they took from financially-distressed consumers, and waive hundreds of millions in other charges.” FTC

January 9, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a settlement with Encore Capital Group, Inc., a major debt buyer, for bringing improper debt collection actions against thousands of New York consumers. According the state, Encore sued New York consumers and obtained uncontested default judgments against consumers who failed to respond to the lawsuits, even though the underlying claims were untimely under New York law. Under the settlement, Encore will seek to vacate more than 4,500 improperly obtained judgments totaling nearly $18 million. Encore will also reform its debt collection practices and pay civil penalties and costs in the amount of $675,000. NY

March 21, 2014

Utah-based Okland Construction Co. agreed to pay $928,000 to resolve allegations it made false statements and submitted false claims under the Small Business Administration’s Section 8(a) Program for Small and Disadvantaged Businesses.  The allegations were first raised in a qui tam lawsuit filed by Section 8(a) participant Saiz Construction Co. and its owner Abel Saiz under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a whistleblower award of $148,480.  DOJ

Visa/MasterCard - Antitrust Violations ($3 billion)

Constantine Cannon served as lead counsel representing Wal-Mart, Sears, Safeway and a class of roughly 5 million U.S. merchants in this antitrust class action alleging various forms of misconduct by Visa and MasterCard in their rules governing the use and marketing of Visa/MasterCard branded credit cards and debit cards.  After winning summary judgment on a majority of the claims, the parties settled the case in May 2003 with the plaintiff merchants Constantine Cannon served as lead counsel representing Wal-Mart, Sears, Safeway and a class of roughly 5 million U.S. merchants in this antitrust class action alleging various forms of misconduct by Visa and MasterCard in their rules governing the use and marketing of Visa/MasterCard branded credit cards and debit cards.  After winning summary judgment on a majority of the claims, the parties settled the case in May 2003 with the plaintiff merchants.