The Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals recently held in FTC v. Moses, Docket No. 16-3811-cv & 16-3805-cv (January 11, 2019) that it was proper to find two individual co-owners and co-directors of several corporate debt collector entities personally liable for $10,852,396 after such entities violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
The action involved a complaint against thirteen corporate debt collector entities and the two co-owners and co-directors of such entities. The FTC alleged that the defendants’ combined debt collection practices violated the FDCPA and FTCA. The corporate defendants’ business consisted primarily of collecting payday loan debts, which they bought from consumer-debt creditors and compiled into debt portfolios.
The actions of the employees and agents of the entities attempting to collect the various debts from consumers were individually directed by the officers and blatantly violated both federal acts.
The Second Circuit affirmed the Western District of New York’s finding that both the corporate entities and the two directors and officers were individually liable to for disgorgement of the almost $11 million they had collected from consumers with the use of tactics that violated both the FDCPA and the FTCA.