Former CEO of a suburban Chicago-based subprime auto lender, James Collins, has been handed a four-year prison term for his part in orchestrating fraud schemes that cost his victims around $67 million. As the head honcho at Honor Finance LLC, Collins ran a tight ship from 2015 through 2018—until it was discovered that he was a little too clever by half, playing fast and loose with the truth when dealing with both bank funds and investment products stemming from subprime auto loans.
The gist of the scheme Collins pulled off involved using his shell company, LHS Solutions, to inflate the cost of GPS devices, leading Honor to pay more than they should have. He also ‘allegedly’ managed to fumble away commissions from the sale of vehicle warranties. Collins confessed in 2023 to a federal mail fraud charge and concurred to bank fraud. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. District Judge Franklin W. Valderrama gave the former CEO his marching orders on Wednesday, including a mandate to reimburse the swindled sum of about $67 million.
This saga of deception was meticulously unspooled by the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Morris Pasqual, and Douglas S. DePodesta, the Special Agent-in-Charge of Chicago's FBI field office, with some much appreciated backup from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Praise for the government’s efforts arrived under the banner of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Getter and Paige A. Nutini, steering the course of justice.
