Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection v. Consumer Advocacy Center Inc.

District Court, C.D. California·Decided July 7, 2023·No. 8:19-cv-01998·Unknown

Opinion

Bureau of Consumer Financial CASE NO. 8:19-cv-01998 MWF (KS)

Protection, et al.,

AND ORDER AS TO DEFENDANT Plaintiffs, KAINE WEN

v.

Court: Hon. Michael W. Fitzgerald Consumer Advocacy Center Inc., d/b/a Date: May 1, 2023 Premier Student Loan Center, et al., Time: 9:30 AM Place: Courtroom 5A Defendants.

Plaintiffs the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau), the State of Minnesota, the State of North Carolina, and the People of the State of California (collectively, Plaintiffs) have filed a motion for partial summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 against Defendant Kaine Wen (Defendant Wen). After considering the pleadings, declarations, exhibits, summary judgment briefing, and the entire record in this matter, this Court hereby orders and adjudges 1 that the Plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment is GRANTED. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED as follows: I 1. Plaintiffs commenced this civil action on October 21, 2019, to obtain injunctive, equitable, and monetary relief and civil penalties from multiple defendants, including Defendant Wen in his individual capacity and as trustee of the Kaine Wen 2017 Trust. 2. Plaintiffs alleged that from at least November 2015 until October 2019, Defendant Wen and his co-defendants operated a nationwide debt-relief enterprise that deceived federal-student-loan borrowers and collected over $95 million in illegal advance fees. 3. The operative complaint, the Third Amended Complaint (ECF Nos. 314-315), alleged violations of sections 1031(a) and 1036(a) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a); the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (TCFAPA), 15 U.S.C. § 6102(c)(2), based on alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. pt. 310; the Minnesota Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act (MNCFA), Minn. Stat. §§ 325F.68-.694; the Minnesota Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act (MNDTPA), Minn. Stat. §§ 325D.43-.48; the North Carolina Debt Adjusting Act (NCDAA), N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-423 et seq.; the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Practices Act (NCUDPA), N.C. Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1; and the California Unfair Competition Law (UCL), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq., in connection with the Defendants’ marketing and sale of Debt-Relief Services. The Third Amended Complaint also included claims for avoidance of fraudulent transfers under the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act, 28 U.S.C. 2 §§ 3001-3308, and the California Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 3439-3439.14. 4. Plaintiffs sought permanent injunctive relief, damages, rescission or reformation of contracts, refunds of moneys paid, restitution, disgorgement or compensation for unjust enrichment, civil money penalties, and other monetary and equitable relief. 5. This Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over this action because it was brought under Federal consumer financial law, 12 U.S.C. § 5565(a)(1), presents a federal question, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and the Bureau is an agency of the United States, 28 U.S.C. § 1345. This Court has supplemental jurisdiction over the States’ (as defined below) claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 5564(f), because Defendant Wen is located, resides, or does business in this district. 6. The Third Amended Complaint states claims against Defendant Wen upon which relief can be granted. 7. There is no genuine issue as to any material fact concerning the liability of Defendant Wen for the unlawful practices charged against him in Counts I through III, V, VII, IX, XI, XVII through XX, and XXII of the Third Amended Complaint, or the amount of redress and civil money penalties resulting from Defendant Wen’s unlawful practices. 8. From at least November 5, 2015, through October 23, 2019, the Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies (as defined below) operated as a common enterprise controlled by Wen and his business partner. Accordingly, each may be held liable for the illegal acts and practices of the others, FTC. v. Grant Connect, LLC, 763 F.3d 1094, 1105 (9th Cir. 2014); FTC v. Network Servs. Depot, Inc., 617 F.3d 1127, 1142-43 (9th Cir. 2010); FTC v. All. Document Preparation, 3 296 F. Supp. 3d 1197, 1203-1204 (C.D. Cal. 2017). 9. The Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies are “covered person[s]” as that term is defined by the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. § 5481(6)(A), (19), because they engaged in offering or providing services which purported to modify the terms of consumers’ federal student loans. 10. Defendant Wen is a “related person” as that term is defined by the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. § 5481(25)(C), because he owned, controlled, and managed the Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies, and materially participated in the conduct of their affairs. 11. Defendant Wen is a “covered person” as that term is defined by the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. § 5481(6)(A), (19), because he is a “related person,” 12 U.S.C. § 5481(25)(B). 12. The Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies engaged in a “debt-relief service” as defined in the TSR, 16 C.F.R. § 310.2(o), because they offered and provided services that purported to renegotiate, settle, or alter the terms of payment or other terms of the debt for consumers’ unsecured federal student loans by submitting requests for loan consolidation and income driven repayment plans to consumers’ student-loan servicers. 13. The Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies engaged in “telemarketing” and are “telemarketers,” as defined in the TSR, 16 C.F.R. § 310.2(gg), (ff), because they offered and provided debt-relief services to consumers nationwide through a plan, program, or campaign by initiating and receiving telephone calls with consumers and employing more than one interstate telephone call. 14. The Student Loan Debt-Relief Companies are “sellers,” as defined in the TSR, 16 C.F.R. § 310.2(dd), because they offered and provided these services to consumers in exchange for payment

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Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection v. Consumer Advocacy Center Inc., (C.D. Cal. 2023).

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