Scott Tucker, a man whose Level 5 Motorsports used to bathe in cash thanks to Tucker’s lucrative payday lending business, is already in heaps of trouble for deceiving consumers. Federal prosecutors added four criminal charges of wire fraud and money laundering to that indictment, reports The Kansas City Star.
Tucker’s businesses went out of their way to make things as confusing as possible for consumers, as The Kansas City Star explains:
The indictment said Tucker’s businesses would withdraw interest-only payments from their bank accounts for as many as five pay periods before drawing down on the principal balance. The effect, the indictment says, was that a $500 loan that should have cost a customer $650 in finance charges could go as high as $1,925.
Tucker is accused of nominally setting up his businesses on American Indian tribes as a means to evade state usury laws.
Tucker’s attorney Tim Muir also was indicted for the same four new charges as Tucker, with Muir being accused of coming up with the whole payday lending scheme in the indictment. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges last Thursday in a Manhattan, N.Y., court. A trial is scheduled for April 17, 2017.
Thus, in addition to the $1.266 billion that Tucker and his associates owe the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive lending practices, Tucker and Muir could face up to 20 years in prison or up to $500,000 in fines if convicted. That’s a stiff punishment for funding the world’s fastest club-level race car among other numerous racing efforts through incredibly shady means.