Time might finally be running out on Douglas MacKinnon’s attempts to keep from having to produce a list of his assets to settle a $60 million judgment. The collection “kingpin” who is facing the judgment after being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been ordered by a federal judge to furnish information about his finances by January 6 or face going to jail, according to a published report.
MacKinnon has been fighting the judgment and making any payments for nearly two years. He was accused of selling his house, valued at $1.6 million, to his wife for $1 after learning that he was under investigation for extorting and attempting to extort money from individuals as part of a large-scale debt collection operation. The CFPB and the Attorney General of New York sued MacKinnon separately seeking to seize the house. A judge last October denied a motion to dismiss that was filed by MacKinnon.
At a hearing last week, Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. ordered MacKinnon’s attorney to not only have the information ready before the next scheduled hearing in the case, on January 7, but told the attorney to have MacKinnon present for the hearing and that he should “bring a toothbrush with him” in case the judge is not satisfied with what MacKinnon turns over.
Prosecutors are seeking for MacKinnon to be jailed rather than fined if found to be in contempt because a fine likely won’t mean much to someone who is already facing a $60 million judgment.
The judgment was originally obtained in May 2020 and MacKinnon and his attorneys have consistently sought to delay production of the information that was requested. Last October, a Magistrate judge recommended that MacKinnon be arrested and his family fined $500 per day until they complied with a court order seeking information about their assets.
Under the terms of the settlement with the CFPB, MacKinnon, Northern Resolution Group and Enhanced Acquisitions were ordered to pay $40 million in restitution to consumers and $10 million each to the CFPB and the New York AG, for a total of $60 million. Mark Gray and Delray Capital, other defendants and alleged participants in the scam, were fined $4 million in restitution to consumers and $1 million each to the CFPB and NY AG, but those fines were reduced to a $1 civil money penalty and $10,000 in consumer restitution because of an inability to pay the full amount. The amounts of the fines represent the amounts that were taken from individuals as a result of this scam.
