You will be provided a tax pro, an accounting pro, a legal pro and wealth management pro. You will then be assigned a comprehensive team of professionals to help you reach your financial and business objectives. Having spent two years living in England including Liverpool, he is an avid Beatles fan and memorabilia collector.As a new business client we listen to your goals and review the status of your business needs. He also teamed up with reporter Joe Nelson in 2019 on Bad Apples, an award winning investigation that exposed years of sex abuse cover up in the Redlands Unified School District. Scott was part of the OC Register’s investigative team that in 2017 produced the year-long, award winning Rehab Riviera series, examining problems in Southern California’s drug rehabilitation industry. He has also accompanied police on undercover drug buys and also provided an award winning, eyewitness account of the execution of a North Carolina death row inmate. Scott has also worked at newspapers in Utah, Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia covering everything from methamphetamine trafficking cops to hurricanes. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he was previously a breaking news and multimedia reporter for the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner. Scott Schwebke is an investigative reporter for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group.
“To avoid scams like these, consumers should never pay an advance fee to a company promising to deliver debt relief.” “Arete Financial Group charged illegal upfront fees and made false promises to consumers struggling with student loan debt,” Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. The $835,000 settlement and additional assets will be used to compensate consumers allegedly victimized by the scheme. The order bans the defendants from providing student loan debt relief services, prohibits them from violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and includes a monetary judgment of $43.3 million, which is partially suspended due to their inability to pay, the FTC said. That temporarily relieved consumers of monthly payments, but allowed interest to accrue that was added to the principal balance of the loans, according to the complaint. Instead of delivering on promised benefits, the defendants often merely contacted the consumer’s lender to place student loans into temporary forbearance or deferment status without the consumer’s authorization or knowledge, the lawsuit says. The defendants allegedly charged illegal upfront fees ranging from $500 to $1,800. “Defendants promise consumers that, in exchange for the payment of an upfront fee and subsequent monthly fees, defendants will reduce consumers’ monthly student loan payments or eliminate all, or a substantial portion of, their federal student loan debt by enrolling consumers in student loan forgiveness, consolidation, or repayment programs.”Īrete Financial used radio, television and internet advertisements as well as unsolicited telemarketing calls to prey on consumers around the country with student loan debt, the suit alleged. “Defendants have operated an unlawful debt relief scheme that preys on consumers with student loan debt,” the complaint states.
Six months later, the company received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan of up to $1 million to weather the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. In November 2019, a federal judge froze Arete Financial’s assets. The five defendants named in the FTC lawsuit allegedly pocketed at least $43 million since 2014 as a result of the student loan scheme. However, he has denied the FTC allegations in court documents.
Howe, Shunmin Hsu, Ruddy Palacios and Oliver Pomazi, as well as several related companies.Ĭarey Howe, president of Arete Financial, could not be reached for comment Tuesday regarding the settlement. The settlement, finalized earlier this month, resolves a 2019 lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Arete Financial Group, Carey G. A Santa Ana company will pay at least $835,000 to settle allegations from the federal government it operated a student debt loan scheme that charged illegal upfront fees and made false promises to customers.
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