LLC, First Coast Matchmakers Inc., First Coast Matchmakers LLC, and Financial Consulting Management Group LLC; VALERIE RANDO, a/k/a Valerie Payton, Val Rando, and Val Singles, individually and as a principal of Prosperity Training Technology LLC, Elite Customer Services, LLC, Digital Business Scaling LLC, First Coast Matchmakers Inc., First Coast Matchmakers LLC, and Financial Consulting Management Group LLC; PROSPERITY TRAINING TECHNOLOGY LLC, a Florida limited liability company, also d/b/a The Credit Game, The Credit Game University, and Elite Deletions; ELITE CUSTOMER SERVICES, LLC, a
Florida limited liability company; DIGITAL BUSINESS SCALING LLC, a Florida limited liability company; FIRST COAST MATCHMAKERS INC., a Florida corporation, also d/b/a Wholesale Tradelines, Defendants
Case Summary
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has temporarily halted a bogus credit repair scheme known as The Credit Game for promoting a series of lies and deceptions. The FTC alleged the scheme’s operators lied to credit reporting agencies regarding information on consumers’ credit reports and pitched consumers a supposed business opportunity that was essentially starting their own bogus credit repair scheme.
In a complaint filed against The Credit Game and its owners, Michael and Valerie Rando, the FTC alleged that the company has illegally charged consumers hundreds and even thousands of dollars for credit repair services of little to no value and told consumers to “invest” their COVID-19 governmental benefits on their unlawful services. In some cases, the company’s “services” included filing false identity theft reports with the FTC and encouraging consumers to take actions that were unlawful. The FTC asked the court to immediately halt the company’s illegal operations, appoint a receiver, and freeze the defendants’ assets. The court issued a temporary restraining order doing so on May 3, 2022.
As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, the operators of “The Credit Game,” a credit repair scheme that cost consumers millions of dollars, face a lifetime ban from the credit repair industry in proposed court orders filed today.
Michael and Valerie Rando and their companies, first sued by the FTC in May 2022, would also be required to turn over a wide array of property that would be liquidated and used to provide refunds to consumers harmed by the scam.