Cole Schotz Represents Litigation Trustee in $44.5 Million FinTech Lender Class Action Settlement

Cole Schotz P.C. represented the Litigation Trustee, former bankruptcy judge Hon. Russell F. Nelms (Ret.), as a participant in a $44.5 million global settlement in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia over litigation stemming from claims that approximately 1.1 million consumer borrowers nationwide were defrauded by subprime lender Think Finance, LLC for attempting to use the sovereign immunity of Native American tribes to charge usurious interest rates and avoid prosecution.

The firm represented the Litigation Trustee in two adversary proceedings filed in bankruptcy court against Elevate Credit, Inc., a publicly traded fintech lender which spun off from Think Finance before it filed for bankruptcy, and against approximately 80 former shareholders of Think Finance for alleged intentional and/or constructive fraudulent transfers made as part of a complex scheme to remove the assets from the reach of creditors. The net settlement proceeds will be added to the other recoveries obtained by the Litigation Trustee, and distributed to the consumer borrower class members.

The Cole Schotz team was led by member Gary H. Leibowitz, and included members Irving E. Walker, James W. Walker, Brian L. King and Michael R. Yellin, associates H.C. Jones III, Ian R. Phillips and Peter J. Strom, and paralegal Kathleen Ryan Sermabekian.