A $1.3 billion judgment, a 16-year sentence, and 1.2 million refund checks
Scott Tucker ran AMG Services and related companies as an online payday lending business charging up to 700% interest, while claiming the businesses were owned by Native American tribes and therefore immune from state usury laws. In October 2016 a federal court imposed a $1.3 billion judgment against him, the largest the FTC had ever obtained in a litigated case, and in January 2018, after a criminal conviction on 14 counts, he was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison. The FTC and DOJ mailed 1,179,803 refund checks totalling over $505 million to affected consumers in September 2018.
- Year
- 2018
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $1.3 billion
- Victims
- 1,179,803
- Schemes
- Tribal lending scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-29
The facts, as recorded
- Beginning in 2003, Tucker entered agreements with the Miami and Modoc tribes of Oklahoma and the Santee Sioux tribe of Nebraska, under which the tribes were nominally the lenders in exchange for roughly 1% of revenue, while Tucker retained the rest and ran the business.
- The businesses operated under brand names including Ameriloan, 500FastCash, OneClickCash, UnitedCashLoans, USFastCash, Star Cash Processing and Advantage Cash Services.
- The FTC alleged the defendants told borrowers they would be charged a one-time finance fee, but instead made repeated withdrawals from borrowers' bank accounts, each assessed a new fee, without clearly disclosing the true cost of the loan.
- In October 2016, a federal court found in the FTC's favor and imposed a $1.3 billion judgment against Tucker and the corporate defendants, the largest judgment the FTC had obtained in a litigated case at that time.
- Tucker and his attorney, Timothy Muir, were convicted on 13 October 2017 on all 14 counts against them, including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and Truth in Lending Act violations, after a five-week jury trial.
- On 5 January 2018, Tucker was sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison; Muir was sentenced to 7 years.
- US District Judge P. Kevin Castel described the scheme as one that had 'created heartbreak and sorrow ... not just financial loss' for its victims.
- In September 2018, the FTC and DOJ mailed 1,179,803 refund checks totalling more than $505,678,077 to consumers harmed by the scheme, covering seven loan-brand portfolios operated before January 2013.
Why this case matters
This is the largest and most fully litigated case in this scheme, a civil judgment, a criminal conviction, and a completed consumer-refund program, all reaching final resolution. It is the reference case for how a tribal-lending arrangement is proven to be a sham in the first place: not through the loan contracts themselves, but through the bank records and revenue-sharing agreements investigators obtained showing the tribes’ actual financial stake.
The 1% arrangement
Regulators did not need to prove the tribes had no role at all, only that their role was nominal. A 1% revenue share, discovered through Colorado’s investigation and later confirmed in federal litigation, was enough to show the tribes were not the ones bearing the business’s risk or keeping its profits.
What the money paid for
The FTC’s case documented Tucker’s personal spending from the business’s proceeds, including sponsorship of his own professional auto-racing team and an $8 million vacation home, spending inconsistent with a business genuinely owned and operated by the tribes named on the loan paperwork.
The caveat
Tucker and Muir were convicted at trial, not through a plea agreement, and their appeals were considered before the sentences described here became final. The facts in this case file are drawn from the FTC’s own civil findings, the criminal trial record, and contemporaneous news reporting of the sentencing; they reflect a concluded proceeding, not an ongoing allegation.
Sources
- U.S. Court Finds in FTC's Favor and Imposes Record $1.3 Billion Judgment Against Defendants Behind AMG Payday Lending Scheme. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-29. Supports: The $1.3 billion judgment, the deceptive repeated-withdrawal and finance-fee practices, and the court's rejection of the tribal sovereign-immunity defence.
- FTC and DOJ Return a Record $505 Million to Consumers Harmed by Massive Payday Lending Scheme. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-29. Supports: The $505,678,077 refund total, the 1,179,803 refund checks, and the seven loan-brand portfolios covered.
- Payday Lender Scott Tucker Sentenced To More Than 16 Years In Prison. KCUR (NPR, Kansas City). Accessed 2026-09-29. Supports: Tucker's and Muir's sentence lengths, the 13 October 2017 conviction on all 14 counts, and Judge Castel's sentencing remarks.
- IMPACT: Tribal payday lender sued by Federal Trade Commission. Center for Public Integrity. Accessed 2026-09-29. Supports: The 2003 tribal agreements with the Miami, Modoc and Santee Sioux tribes, the roughly 1% revenue share paid to the tribes, and the loan brand names.