It appears as though Douglas MacKinnon has successfully avoided being sent to jail, even though a two-day hearing this week did not provide all the details that prosecutors and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are looking for as they seek to enforce a $60 million judgment against him.
Even though he hasn’t turned over any money or enough information about the state of his finances, MacKinnon was able to borrow $10,000 from his brother last year to extend his stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Aruba for two extra weeks — a necessity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MacKinnon said during the hearing.
The hearing was ordered last month by a judge who is becoming increasingly frustrated with MacKinnon’s efforts to keep from having to produce a list of his assets after he and a number of other defendants were the subject of an enforcement action in 2019 by the CFPB and the New York Attorney General. The action accused MacKinnon and the other defendants of scamming individuals by using threats to collect on debts, spoofing the phone numbers of courthouses and government agencies to make it look like collection calls were coming from those offices, and adding money to the balances that were owed.
Since then, MacKinnon has repeatedly delayed and thwarted attempts to detail his financial situation as a means of not having to repay the judgment. MacKinnon, for example, was accused of selling his $1.6 million house to his wife and daughter for $1 when he learned he was under investigation by authorities.
MacKinnon did say at the hearing this week that he is making about $1,000 a week working for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company.
The hearing was suspended until February 24 when both sides were asked to return and provide Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. with a status update. MacKinnon is scheduled to be deposed by government lawyers on February 9 and was ordered to provide additional details about his finances by February 4.
