FTC Sends Racecar Driver Into Wall With $1.3 Billion Fine For Payday Lending Scheme

A former race car driver and his cohorts have been ordered to pay $1.3 billion by a federal court after the Federal Trade Commission sued the group for a payday lending scheme that bilked individuals nationwide.

The $1.3 billion represents the amount that was illegally taken from customers of the payday lenders. The defendants were accused of claiming they would charge borrowers the loan amount plus a one-time finance fee, when instead they charged a finance fee every time they took money from an individual’s bank account.

The defendants were charged with violating the FTC Act and were sued by the FTC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Chief Judge Gloria Navarro ruled that Scott Tucker, a racecar driver, was responsible for the illegal conduct.

The FTC has been after this group for quite some time. This marks the fourth settlement with defendants implicated in the scheme, which previously had netted more than $25 million in settlements.

Tucker’s fine of $1.3 billion is the largest amount ever litigated by the FTC, the agency claimed.