Commonwealth Equity Group, LLC (d/b/a Key Credit Repair); Nikitas Tsoukales (a/k/a Nikitas Tsoukalis)
On May 22, 2020, the Bureau and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Attorney General jointly filed a lawsuit against Commonwealth Equity Group, LLC, which does business as Key Credit Repair, and Nikitas Tsoukales (also known as Nikitas Tsoukalis), Key Credit Repair’s president and owner. As alleged in the amended complaint filed on September 16, 2020, Key Credit Repair marketed and sold credit-repair services, including through telemarketing, to consumers nationwide. Key Credit Repair enrolled nearly 40,000 consumers in its credit-repair services and collected tens of millions in fees from consumers. The amended complaint alleges that defendants violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA) by charging consumers fees for purported credit-repair services before achieving any durable results, and by making certain deceptive representations on Key Credit’s website and in sales pitches.
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint on September 30, 2020, which the court denied on August 10, 2021. On February 17, 2023, the defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, and on March 22, 2023, they filed a motion to stay the case, both of which the court denied on May 1, 2023. On July 28, 2023, the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment on all counts and defendants moved for partial summary judgment.
On September 30, 2024, the district court entered a memorandum and order granting the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on all counts. The court ordered a judgment for consumer redress against the defendants of $31,723,003 for fees charged from January 1, 2011, to March 22, 2022, and an amount corresponding to the fees charged from March 23, 2022, to the earlier of the date the defendants stopped collecting advance fees or the order date. The court also ordered the defendants to come into compliance with the law and required each defendant to pay the Bureau a $9,570,091 penalty. On October 28, 2024, defendants moved for reconsideration of the September 30, 2024, memorandum and order, which plaintiffs opposed. On September 30, 2025, the court denied reconsideration of its findings on liability but ordered a hearing on its findings on relief.
On December 17, 2025, the parties filed a proposed stipulated final judgment and order as to relief, which the court entered on December 18, 2025. It bans defendants from engaging in credit-repair and debt-relief services for 25 years; requires defendants to pay $20,000 in partial satisfaction of a redress judgment, which includes $36,229,618 for fees charged to consumers since 2013, that is suspended based on defendants’ limited ability to pay; and requires defendants to pay a $1 civil money penalty, which enables the Bureau to access the civil penalty fund for purposes of redressing harmed consumers.
Related documents
Stipulated Final Judgment and Order