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Federal Deception Law: OKLAHOMA

Okla. Stat. tit. 22, §§ 1401 to 1419

Predicate Offenses: List of felonies, including extortion, fraud, human trafficking (defined to include debt bondage, or labor coerced by abuse of the law or legal process), securities offense; exploitation of elderly persons or disabled adults; and certain computer crimes.

Federal Deception Law: PENNSYLVANIA

18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 911

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including charging more than twenty-five-percent APR for debt unless otherwise authorized by law; human trafficking, defined to include labor coerced by debt coercion and threats of certain financial harm, including violations of usury law.

Pattern: Two or more predicate offenses, one after effective date of statute.

Does Statute Explicitly Provide for Private Cause of Action? No. Attorney general may seek divestiture.

Federal Deception Law: PUERTO RICO

P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 25, §§ 971 to 971s

Predicate Offenses: List of state offense, including extortion; also, collection of illegal debt.

Pattern: Two acts of organized criminal activity within a ten-year period, excluding any period of imprisonment, at least one of which occurred after June 19, 1987.

Does Statute Explicitly Provide for Private Cause of Action? Yes, for treble damages, costs and attorney fees.

Statute of Limitations: Ten years, except when other statute establishes longer limitations period.

Federal Deception Law: RHODE ISLAND

R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 7-15-1 to 7-15-11

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including extortion; also, collection of unlawful debt.

Pattern: None required.

Does Statute Explicitly Provide for Private Cause of Action? Yes, for treble damages plus costs and attorney fees. Victim may also intervene in forfeiture proceeding and seek escrow of forfeited assets. Statute explicitly states that criminal conviction of defendant is unnecessary.

Statute of Limitations: Statute silent.

Federal Deception Law: UTAH

Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-10-1601 to 76-10-1609 (West)

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including theft by deception, theft by extortion, usury, securities offenses, violations of Land Sales Practices Act, defrauding creditors, making false credit report, mortgage fraud, confidence game, false statements, deceptive business practices, identity fraud, plus most offenses listed in federal RICO, human trafficking.

Federal Deception Law: VIRGIN ISLANDS

V.I. Code Ann. tit. 14, §§ 600 to 614

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including statutes regulating loans, disclosure of finance charges, extortion, fraud and false statements.

Pattern: Two or more offenses, not isolated, related to the conduct of the enterprise, at least one of which occurred after November 9, 1990.

Does Statute Explicitly Provide for Private Cause of Action? Yes, for treble damages (not including pain and suffering), costs and reasonable attorney fees. Victim has a claim to forfeited property.

Federal Deception Law: WASHINGTON

Wash. Rev. Code §§ 9A.82.010 to 9A.82.902

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including extortion, collection of unlawful debt, collection of extortionate extension of credit, telephone solicitation violations, securities fraud, pursuing a pattern of skimming homeowners’ equity, identity theft, and unlicensed practice of profession or business. Securities fraud may be a predicate offense only if defendant has been convicted criminally.

Federal Deception Law: WISCONSIN

Wis. Stat. §§ 946.80 to 946.93

Predicate Offenses: List of state offenses, including securities offenses, franchise law violations, loan sharking, identity theft and some frauds, plus offenses listed in federal RICO, certain types of welfare fraud.

Pattern: Three or more similar or related predicate offenses, the motive of which is to derive pecuniary gain. Last offense must have occurred within seven years of the first, and at least one must have occurred after April 27, 1982.

Federal Deception Law: 39 U.S.C. § 3009. Mailing of unordered merchandise

(a) Except for (1) free samples clearly and conspicuously marked as such, and (2) merchandise mailed by a charitable organization soliciting contributions, the mailing of unordered merchandise or of communications prohibited by subsection (c) of this section constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair trade practice in violation of section 45(a)(1) of title 15.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.2 Orders Against Experian (Formerly TRW)

FTC v. TRW, Inc., 784 F. Supp. 361 (N.D. Tex. 1991) (consent order), amended by (N.D. Tex. Jan. 14, 1993) (agreed order amending consent order). This FTC enforcement action brought against TRW [now Experian] resulted from widespread dissatisfaction with the accuracy of reported information and apparent systematic FCRA compliance difficulties.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.3 Orders Against Equifax

In re Equifax, Inc., 96 F.T.C. 1045 (1980) (opinion and final order), rev’d in part, 678 F.2d 1047 (11th Cir. 1982). Just a few years after enactment of the FCRA, the FTC initiated a major, protracted enforcement action against Equifax, then known as Retail Credit Company. A voluminous record resulted in an FTC order addressing a wide variety of improper, commonplace practices. Parts of the final order concerning internal incentive plans for employees and offices were set aside upon appeal, but the rest of the FTC adjudication remains in place.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.4 Orders Against TransUnion

In re Trans Union Credit Info. Co., 102 F.T.C. 1109 (F.T.C. 1983) (consent order). An FTC investigation that addressed, among other issues, the provision of reports to detective agencies and government agencies, the delayed deletion of obsolete credit account information, the premature deletion of non-derogatory information, the disclosure of file information to consumers, and reinvestigation of disputed information.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.6 Orders Against Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies

In re Howard Enters., Inc., 93 F.T.C. 909 (F.T.C. June 12, 1979). The FTC issued a complaint alleging that this company failed to comply with the FCRA despite the fact that the bad check lists it issued constituted consumer reports, and the company was a consumer reporting agency. Specifically, the FTC alleged that the company failed to maintain reasonable procedures to ensure accuracy and to ensure that its reports were furnished only to users with a permissible purpose.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.9 Orders Against Furnishers

U.S. v. Performance Capital Mgmt., Inc., No. 982 3542 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 24, 2000) (consent decree), available at www.ftc.gov. The FTC alleged that a debt buyer furnished CRAs with inaccurate delinquency dates, using more recent dates instead of the date the debt was first delinquent, failed to reinvestigate consumer disputes referred by CRAs, and failed to notify CRAs when consumers disputed collection accounts with the debt buyer.

Fair Credit Reporting: L.10 Orders Against Identity Thieves

FTC v. a Minor (C.D. Cal. 2003) (stipulated final judgment and order for permanent injunction and other equitable relief). This order is against an identity thief who allegedly used hijacked corporate logos and deceptive spam to con consumers out of credit card numbers and other financial data. The FTC alleged that the scam, called “phishing,” had the thief posing as America Online and sending consumers e-mail messages claiming that there had been a problem with the billing of their AOL account.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: § 810 Overview

This chapter contains national judiciary policies regarding bankruptcy cases that were adopted either by the Judicial Conference of the United States or by the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO). They include:

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: § 820 Chapter 7 Fee Waiver Procedures

The Judicial Conference promulgated these procedures to assist district courts and bankruptcy courts with implementing the fee waiver provisions set forth in Section 418 of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-8, 199 Stat. 23), as codified at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1930(f)(1)–(3). JCUS-SEPT 13, pp. 8–9.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: § 820.10 Filing Fee Waiver Application and Initiation of the Chapter 7 Case

(a) Instead of paying the prescribed chapter 7 filing fee or filing an installment application, an individual debtor may, along with the bankruptcy petition, file an application to waive the filing fee. See: 28 U.S.C. § 1930(f)(1).

(1) Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1006(c) requires that the application be “prepared as prescribed by the appropriate Official Form” (Official Form 103B).

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: § 820.30 Developments in the Case

(a) Conversion to Another Chapter

(1) If the filing fee for an individual chapter 7 debtor is waived and the debtor’s case is later converted to a case under another chapter, the debtor must pay the full filing fee required for that chapter.

(2) The conversion order should give the debtor a reasonable time in which to either pay the fee in full or begin making installment payments.

(b) Fee Waiver Request After Installment Payment Application