A New York-based debt collection company holding group, and its owners and affiliates, face a lawsuit by the federal consumer financial protection agency for placing consumer debt with collection companies that used “unlawful and deceptive collection tactics” despite knowing of those tactics, the agency said Monday.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it brought the suit against United Debt Holding (UDH), JTM Capital Management (JTM), United Holding Group (UHG), and their owners Craig Manseth, Jacob Adamo, and Darren Turco, for illegal debt-collection practices. The agency charged that the debt collection company and its owners knowingly used third-party collectors that engaged in unlawful and deceptive tactics.
UHG is based in Williamsville, N.Y., the bureau said. The agency also noted that, for all intents and purposes, UDH, JTM and UHG have operated “as a single entity under the control of individual defendants since at least mid-2017.”
The bureau claimed that, in placing or selling consumer debt to or with collection companies using the alleged unlawful and deceptive collection tactics, the defendants knew, or should have known, that the collection companies made false threats and false statements to consumers.
“And although some of the defendants have been the subject of prior enforcement action, they continued their unlawful practices,” the CFPB stated.
According to the complaint filed by the bureau, it is seeking (among other things) to enjoin the defendants from committing future violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) or any other provisions of federal consumer financial law; and to award damages and monetary relief against the defendants, determined by the court, to “redress injury to consumers” resulting from their alleged violation of the CFPA and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The agency also seeks disgorgement of the defendants’ “ill-gotten gains” and the imposition of civil money penalties. No dollar amounts were listed in the complaint.
CFPB Sues United Holding Group, Its Affiliates, and Its Owners for Illegal Debt Collection Practices