Consumer and Unfair Competition Law Award

January 2025

The California Lawyers Association’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section is pleased to announce its first annual Consumer and Unfair Competition Law Award. The inaugural Award is being given to the team of government litigators—from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office—that prosecuted student loan refinance companies and their leadership for making false promises to help students facing substantial student loan debt. The Award will be presented at the third annual Consumer and Unfair Competition Law Institute (CUCLI) at the City Club Los Angeles on January 31.

The action, CFPB, et al. v. Consumer Advocacy Center Inc., et al., was filed in the Central District of California against Consumer Advocacy Center Inc. d/b/a Premier Student Loan Center, True Count Staffing Inc. d/b/a SL Account Management, Prime Consulting LLC d/b/a Financial Preparation Services, and individuals associated with those entities. The action alleged that the defendants operated an unlawful student loan debt relief enterprise in Los Angeles and Southern California. They allegedly violated state and federal consumer protection statutes, including the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), by making misrepresentations about Premier’s student loan services. Defendants allegedly charged and collected improper advance fees, automatically put loans in forbearance, and submitted false information to loan servicers and the federal government to qualify consumers for artificially low monthly payments. It also alleged the individuals substantially assisted the student loan debt relief companies in this conduct.

At the outset of the case, in October 2019, the government agencies obtained a temporary restraining order as well as an asset freeze and a court-appointed receiver. This TRO immediately halted the allegedly fraudulent business operations, froze defendants’ assets, and appointed a receiver, who was granted immediate access to several of defendants’ locations to take over defendants’ operations. The court also entered a stipulated preliminary injunction that prohibited defendants from collecting illegal advance fees and engaging in deception and extended the receivership and asset freeze that was imposed by the temporary restraining order. The case was litigated, and settlements and default judgments were entered against numerous defendants.

On July 7, 2023, the court granted partial summary judgment against the last remaining defendant, Kaine Wen, an owner and executive at Premier, for $243 million and injunctive relief. This included holding Wen personally responsible for $148 million in total civil penalties and jointly and severally liable for $95 million in consumer restitution. The order also required Wen to turn over certain assets, including cryptocurrency, and imposed broad injunctive relief, including a permanent, industry-wide ban on Wen. Wen has appealed, and the appeal is set for oral argument in March 2025.

As a result of this consumer protection enforcement action, 87,285 consumers nationwide received over $95 million in restitution related to a wide-ranging student loan servicing fraud, including 6,546 California consumers who received more than $7.1 million in restitution.

This enforcement action was noteworthy not only for the $243 million total judgment dollar amount but also because this is the first known example of California public consumer protection prosecutors using the UCL in conjunction with the CFPA and the TSR, along with the joint efforts of the CFPB, to access the CFPB’s victims relief fund—also known as the Civil Penalty Fund—to distribute restitution to all known victims.

Award Info

The Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section is pleased to announce a new award to recognize outstanding achievements in the practice of consumer and unfair competition law.

The nomination period is now closed for 2024.

The annual Consumer and Unfair Competition Law Award (CUCLA) will recognize the achievements of an attorney or team in a significant litigation or investigation, or in making another meaningful contribution to the development of consumer and unfair competition law.

The following criteria must be met to qualify for the award:

At least one member of the recognized team must be a member of the California State Bar in good standing;
Some portion of the achievement must have occurred within the eighteen months prior to the submission deadline; and
The achievement must have meaningfully advanced the practice of consumer and unfair competition law in California.

A nomination statement must be submitted.

In no more than 500 words, describe why the nominated achievement and the attorney or team responsible for it should receive this award. Relevant considerations include but are not limited to:

The novel or innovative application of consumer and unfair competition law;
The impact on the practice of consumer and unfair competition law in California;
The significance of the achievement to clients or other beneficiaries; and
The attorney or team’s historical contribution to consumer and unfair competition law in California, including the promotion of all forms of diversity in the consumer and unfair competition law community.

You may also accompany the nomination with supporting documents, such as:

Resumes or biographies;
Letters of support;
Judicial orders, legal analysis, press coverage, or other relevant public documents regarding the achievement; and
Documents that demonstrate the attorney or teams’ broader contributions to consumer and unfair competition law in California.

Eligible individuals and teams may nominate themselves, or be nominated by others, by completing the following nomination form.

Applications should be submitted no later than 11:59pm Pacific Time on October 15, 2024.

Please address any question or concerns to antitrust@calawyers.org.