American Le Mans Series champion and Le Mans veteran Scott Tucker is now more likely to be known as payday lending scam artist and convicted felon Scott Tucker. Through nefarious means, primarily deceptive undisclosed payday loan fees, was able to amass a fortune, some of which he used to fund his Level 5 Racing program for years of top-flight motorsport, and win multiple national championships.
In the new Netflix series Dirty Money, episode two takes a deep dive one-hour look into Scott Tucker’s business history and how the scheme ended with him receiving 16 years and 8 months in federal prison, plus a $1.26 billion judgement. Part of the reason Tucker received so much time in prison for his misdeeds was the absolute lack of remorse shown in interviews like this one.
These predatory payday loans were intentionally confusing, and because of the undisclosed fees customers could end up paying three times the initial loan. Over 1.5 million customers were duped into paying these incredible loan charges. This model, Tucker claims, is industry standard practice. He says he has done nothing wrong. He flat out shows no remorse.
The one-hour mini-doc shows just how Tucker’s AMG Services company intentionally hid where the company was based, claiming it was run by a series Native American tribe. The tribes, in fact, were receiving as little as one percent of the company’s revenue, while 99 percent of it went directly to Tucker, and he still claims he was not involved.
This documentary is absolutely fascinating from a motorsport perspective and from a financial perspective. It’s also an incredible look into the heartlessness of someone who was once a champion of the sport. Even as he faces the the forfeiture of his assets, he’s indignant over the ruling. He set up a two-billion dollar company where the only purpose was to scrape the last dregs of money from the accounts of people who didn’t have much to begin with.
“Money can’t buy ethics.”
Ain’t that the truth.
If you want to watch Scott Tucker’s episode of Dirty Money, it’s streaming on Netflix now.