$11M for victims of illegal student loan debt-relief operation

The CFPB has allocated $11 million for 2,600 people charged illegal upfront fees for student-loan debt-relief services provided by Amanda Johnson, David Mize, Jacob Slaughter, or Daniel Ruggiero, working with GST Factoring, Inc. Payments were sent on March 23, 2023, through RUST Consulting.

In 2020, the CFPB filed a complaint in the federal district court for the Central District of California against GST Factoring, Inc., which runs a student-loan debt-relief business in Texas, and two of its owners, Rick Graff and Gregory Trimarche, as well as Champion Marketing Solutions, LLC, a customer service and marketing company, and its owner, Scott Freda. The CFPB also filed suit against four attorneys who provided the debt-relief services in connection with GST Factoring and Champion Marketing: Amanda Johnson, David Mize, Jacob Slaughter, and Daniel Ruggiero. The CFPB alleged that the companies, their owners, and the attorneys were part of a nationwide student-loan debt-relief operation that charged approximately $11.8 million in illegal upfront fees to thousands of consumers saddled with private student-loan debt. The Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) states that it is illegal to request or receive any fees for debt-relief services sold through telemarketing before the debt is settled or renegotiated.

• CFPB press release