Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington, along with counterparts from 11 other states, is pressing the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to provide a clear schedule for distributing $4.2 million in restitution to the victims of a predatory sales program by Prehired LLC. According to a release from the Washington state Attorney General's Office, the group sent a letter to the CFPB’s acting director today asking for a response on why the restitution payments from a November 2023 court ruling have been delayed.
Despite having received regular updates through 2024, in February, the states learned from CFPB that it had ceased sharing information about the progress regarding the distribution of these funds to Prehired’s victims. The letter stressed the urgency of the situation, stating on the Washington state Attorney General's Office, "During these increasingly difficult economic times, hundreds of Americans look to your leadership to deliver on this commitment."
The company at the center of this legal action, Prehired, allegedly used deceptive marketing to convince individuals, including many Washingtonians, to pay up to $30,000 for an unaccredited online sales training program. Prehired’s funding model relied heavily on income-share loans, which it misleadingly claimed were not actual loans. Promising well-paying tech sales jobs that failed to materialize for most, Prehired applied aggressive collection practices on students burdened by the debt.
The enforcement action taken against Prehired not only included Washington but also involved the active participation of attorneys general from Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Together, they secured a court order mandating Prehired to return a substantial sum to those affected. However, having waited since May 2024 for the CFPB to act on the allocation announcement, those impacted by Prehired’s practices remain without their due restitution.
