NY AG Sues to Shut Down Collection Agency Accused of Sexual Harassment
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced another action against an accounts receivable management group yesterday. This one carries some pretty nasty allegations of abuse.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that he had filed a lawsuit to close down a group of debt collection agencies that allegedly used intimidation – including sexual threats – to collect debts from New Yorkers.
Cuomo’s office said that the lawsuit seeks specifically to shut down a Buffalo-based debt collection operation consisting of 13 companies run by Buffalo residents Omar Smith, Narvell Benning and Keith Marshall (collectively, the Benning-Smith Group). The AG’s office said that consumers in New York have filed more than 850 complaints against various companies in the Benning-Smith Group with the Office of the Attorney General, the FTC and the Better Business Bureau.
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“This company made lies, threats and abuse their calling cards in their efforts to manipulate and take advantage of consumers already facing tough economic times,” said Cuomo. “They did everything they could to demean and humiliate their targets, stooping so low as to sexually harass and verbally abuse individuals nationwide.”
Cuomo’s statement also noted that the announced action was the latest in his “ongoing investigation of unlawful debt collection practices.”
In a press release announcing the actions, Cuomo’s office offered lurid details of the companies’ alleged behavior. According to the suit, collectors representing the group frequently posed as police officers and threatened bodily harm to debtors. The suit alleges that there was an ongoing and widespread pattern of verbal abuse within the group.
In one instance, a Benning-Smith collector kept repeating the name of a consumer’s daughter, describing various sexual things he would do to her unless the debt was paid. Another collector told a female consumer that if both she and her husband would engage in sexual acts with him, he would pay their debt himself. Collectors routinely called consumers “drunks,” “scumbags,” “deadbeats,” and, in one instance, “a low-life piece of trash.”
Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation revealed that collectors regularly demanded payment for non-existent debts or substantially inflated the amount owed on an actual debt. Using their false law enforcement identities, collectors coerced and cajoled terrified consumers into agreeing to make payments. Frightened at the prospect of arrest and humiliation, consumers authorized withdrawals from their checking accounts, sent Western Union MoneyGrams and/or money orders out of fear.
The Benning-Smith Group operated under several names, including: Abrams, Burke & Associates; Benning and Smith Acquisitions, Inc.; Brady and Caruso, LLC; DebtPayments.com; DebtPayments.com, LLC; Fredericks, Goldstein & Zoe; Graham, Noble & Associates Bookkeeping; Graham, Noble & Associates LLC; Graham, Beagle & Associates LLC; Kingman, Cole and Associates, LCC; Marshall and Ziolkowski Enterprise, LLC; Marshall Ziolkowski Acquisitions, LLC; Lansky, Goldstein, Zoe; OLS Payment Services; and University Debt Collection.
Repeated attempts to contact various companies in the group were unsuccessful.
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Comments
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 10:24AM EST
Absolutely disgusting. These collection practices give everyone in the industry a bad name. Thank you Cuomo for cleaning up your state and, possibly, our reputation.
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 10:26AM EST
If they did this they need to go!! It unfairly paints a broad brush on our industry .They are the exceptions not the rule.
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 11:04AM EST
I know Omar Smith very well and know he wouldnt tolerate those type of comments on the phone. I believe they tied in his old partners which were causing the issues.
Comment from Go Get Them on August 19, 2009 at 11:07AM EST
how many more instances of this kind of crap does our industry have to endure. Every time they shut down an operation and stories like this are in the press, it puts more pressure on the government to "do something." It scares the hell out of me.
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 11:33AM EST
I hope creditors have learned that not everyone should be extended credit. "Bottom feeders" in the collection industry who are willing to do anything to collect a debt have allowed creditors to take unnecessary risks...
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 11:37AM EST
Did all the entities have debt collection licenses. Are these legitimate collectors, or just thugs imitating to be something they are not? If they were not licensed they did to be identified properly as criminals running various unlicensed enterprises pretending to be collectors.
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 11:45AM EST
Wow - unbelievable! Where do these people get off? They sure give the "legal-honest-law abiding agencies and law firms" a bad rap. They need to be prosecuted to the fullest!!!!! And none to soon...
Comment from Anonymous on August 19, 2009 at 2:05PM EST
What happened to ethics? It is obvious that there were none from the executive level down... And who's managing the call center? Why were they not disciplined sooner? I trust that they will all get their fair share someday.
Comment from sd1950 on August 19, 2009 at 2:16PM EST
I have been in this industry over 30 years and I have never witnessed this type of behavior, even in pre FDCPA days. This was on our local news last night and all I could say is here we go again.
No amount of regulation will stop these type of people. Our local news stories state that they just made up debts and people were so afraid that they just paid. I don't know how you stop something like that.
Comment from ASG rejects on August 19, 2009 at 4:22PM EST
I worked with these losers at account solutions group and none of this surprises me. this is another example of how it is way to easy to open up a collections company. you should have to pass a background check and pass a common sense test before you can. I'm glad these bottom feeders got busted!
Comment from jjj on August 19, 2009 at 4:50PM EST
It is important seperate these guys from collecters. They were even collecting non existaent debt. They are not collectors they are outright crooks running an organized fraud ring. Cuomo is right in going after them, but lets remember background checks, testing, and registration will not stop this type of fraud.
Comment from Viaumeister on August 20, 2009 at 10:28AM EST
And you wonder why judges are trying to screw our industry with the Foti Catch-22. We are getting screwed by our own people. Oh, and I am sure Omar Smith is a stadn up guy. He just let this stuff go on under his watch.
Comment from Anonymous on August 20, 2009 at 2:47PM EST
Without any knowledge as to this case, I do object to the published comment referring to collection agencies as "bottom feeders." Remember, if I am a bottom feeder, and I am calling you, then that means you are on the "bottom."
Comment from Proud American on August 25, 2009 at 2:13AM EST
I say a big thank you to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomom. We need more men like him taking charge. I'm very glad he has an ongoing investigation of unlawful debt collection practices. Please don't stop until all these Collection agencies are closed down.