Student Loan Pro, Judith Noh, Syed Faisal Gilani, and FNZA Marketing, LLC
On March 16, 2021, the Bureau filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Student Loan Pro, a California sole proprietorship that telemarketed and provided debt-relief services focused on federal student-loan debt; Judith Noh, its owner; and Syed Gilani, its manager and owner-in-fact. The Bureau also named as a relief defendant FNZA Marketing, LLC (FNZA), a California company nominally owned by Noh and controlled by Gilani. The Bureau alleges that Student Loan Pro conducted a student-loan debt-relief business from 2015 through 2019 that charged about 3,300 consumers with federal student-loan debt approximately $3.5 million in illegal upfront fees in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), to file paperwork on their behalf to apply for programs that were available to them for free from the United States Department of Education. The Bureau alleges that Noh and Gilani are individually liable for and substantially assisted Student Loan Pro’s violations of the TSR. The Bureau also alleges that FNZA was the recipient of some portion of the unlawful advance fees obtained by Student Loan Pro without legitimate claim to the funds. The Bureau seeks redress to consumers, appropriate injunctive relief, and the imposition of civil money penalties against Student Loan Pro, Noh, and Gilani, and seeks to have FNZA disgorge the funds it received from Student Loan Pro.
Related document
Press release
CFPB Takes Action Against Operators of An Unlawful Student Loan Debt-Relief Scheme