WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced April 24 that a federal court, per an FTC request, has ordered Timothy L. Ford to pay $2 million in civil penalties for allegedly violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Ford is the president of Commercial Recovery Systems Inc. (CRS).
According to a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC in January 2015, Ford’s company would falsely tell consumers it would sue debtors, garnish their wages, levy their bank accounts or seize their property unless their debts were paid.
Ford and his company were banned from the debt collection business via a permanent injunction issued in April 2016 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas-Sherman Division.
David Devany, CRS’ former vice president, reached a settlement with the FTC in September 2016; he is banned from the business.