California Challenges OCC Rule That Facilitates Predatory Lending Schemes

CA AG

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today joined a multistate lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) challenging its “True Lender Rule.” The OCC’s rule facilitates predatory lending by allowing payday lenders, auto-title lenders and other non-bank entities to evade state limits on loan interest rates through sham "rent-a-bank" arrangements with national banks. California limits interest rates to 36 percent on consumer loans under $10,000. To circumvent California law, the predatory non-bank lenders “partner” with national banks that are shielded from state rate caps. The OCC’s True Lender Rule enables rent-a-bank schemes that often hike interest rates on borrowers to 100 percent or higher. read more »

Newly unsealed court documents reveal Sackler family’s early concerns over lawsuits

WASHINGTON POST

Copies of the emails, along with memos and messages from a family WhatsApp group chat, were unsealed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, where the company and its affiliates filed for relief in September 2019.

Following the Justice Department settlement, the Sacklers met with a bankruptcy attorney, assessed selling the company to a larger firm and were advised to take “defensive measures,” including through “overseas assets with limited transparency and jurisdictional shielding from U.S. judgments,” according to the documents.

“Fundamentally, we don’t want to stay in this business anymore (given the horrible risks, outlooks, difficulties, etc) and I think the majority of your family feels the same way,” Mortimer wrote to Richard eight months after David’s message. “Even though our prospects have improved dramatically I feel it offers us a unique opportunity to sell at a very high price and once and for all eliminate the great risks we have and continue to take and secure our families’ current and future financial security.” 

While this was happening, Purdue’s staff continued to market and sell its blockbuster opioid OxyContin. read more »