BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Monday that they shut down a predatory debt collection agency that was based out of a location in Erie County.
The debt collection operation was comprised of several companies including JPL Recovery Solutions that used deceptive and abusive tactics to collect millions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of customers. These tactics included false threats, inflated numbers of debt, and contacting family, work, and friends to harass consumers.
“It is illegal for debt collectors to orchestrate smear campaigns using social media to extort consumers into paying up,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Our action with the New York Attorney General bans the ringleaders of this operation from the industry to halt further misconduct.”
As a result of the actions from the Attorney General and CFPB, the collection operation, its owners, and managers are required to pay $4 million. Of that $4 million, half will go to the state and the other half to the CFPB. If not paid in a timely manner they will be required to pay an additional $1 million.
They are also permanently banned from the debt collection industry.
“This debt collection operation used illegal and deceptive tactics to prey on consumers, and now they are paying the price for the harm they caused,” James said. “Predatory debt collectors make their profit by targeting hardworking consumers and then illegally saddle them deeper into debt. These debt collectors used harassing calls and false threats to coerce consumers to pay, actions that are both illegal and downright shameful. Today’s action should send a strong message to debt collectors nationwide that we will not hesitate to use the full force of the law to hold them accountable if they hurt consumers.”
The businesses comprising the operation were based out of Getzville. The businesses purchased defaulted consumer debt for pennies on the dollar that was from high-interest personal loans, payday loans, credit cards, and other sources.
The operation attempted to collect a debt from around 239,000 consumers and generated revenue of around $93 million from 2015 to 2020, according to the Attorney General's Office.
The companies involved in this operation included JPL Recovery Solutions, LLC; Regency One Capital LLC; ROC Asset Solutions LLC, which does business as API Recovery Solutions; Check Security Associates LLC, which does business as Warner Location Services and Orchard Payment Processing Systems; and Keystone Recovery Group. These companies were owned by Christopher Di Re, Scott Croce, and Susan Croce, and managed by Brian Koziel and Marc Gracie, according to the Attorney General's Office.
Attorney General James and CFPB alleged the operation used the following illegal tactics to collect debt:
- Falsely claimed arrest and imprisonment
- Lied about legal action
- Inflated the debts and misrepresented amounts owed
- Created “smear campaigns”
- Harassed people with repeated phone calls
- Failed to provide legally mandated disclosures
