Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman filed a lawsuit on Friday against a company who allegedly targeted military personnel in order to sell them goods and services on credit.
Freedom Stores, which does business as Freedom Furniture & Electronics, Military Credit Services and Freedom Acceptance Corp., is accused of violating state law for selling the goods and services and then collecting on the loans when military members and their families become delinquent. The stores are owned by Leonard Melley Jr., John Melley and Leonard Melley Sr.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman filed suit against Freedom Stores for allegedly violating state law in pursuing military customers to sell them goods and services on credit.
| Colorado Attorney General
“My office is committed to protecting Colorado's consumers, and we will stop any company that seeks to take advantage of military service members and the chain of command to unjustly profit from illegal lending schemes,” Coffman said. “The goal of this lawsuit is to ensure that merchants that focus their businesses on the military community do so honestly and in full compliance with the law. We will not tolerate businesses who line their pockets with the sacrifices of our military."
The complaint also claims a 2012 look into the business discovered it was charging interest rates that were above the rate permitted by state law, and charging fees that were also against state law. Freedom Stores also allegedly attempted to file suits in Virginia courts against military members when the lawsuits should have been filed in Colorado, Coffman said.