Kevin Guice ordered to pay $23 million after running a 13-shell-company robocall operation from an Orlando boiler room
The FTC and Florida's Attorney General sued Kevin W. Guice and a web of 13 shell companies in June 2016, alleging his Orlando operation used illegal robocalls from "Bank Card Services" and "Credit Assistance Program" to charge consumers $500 to $5,000 for a credit card interest rate reduction that rarely materialised, plus a further "debt-elimination" fee of $2,500 to almost $26,000. A federal court froze the operation's assets in 2016 and, in December 2018, granted summary judgment against Guice personally, ordering him to pay $23,099,878 and permanently banning him from telemarketing and debt relief. The FTC mailed refund checks to thousands of victims in 2023, averaging $117 each.
- Year
- 2016
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sanctioned
- Reported loss
- $23.1 million
- Victims
- 10,000
- Schemes
- Credit card interest rate reduction scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-19
The facts, as recorded
- The FTC and the Florida Attorney General filed the complaint on June 14, 2016 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Case No. 6:16-cv-982), naming Life Management Services of Orange County, LLC, Loyal Financial & Credit Services, LLC, and 11 other shell LLCs, plus individual defendants Kevin W. Guice, Chase P. Jackowski, Linda N. McNealy, Clarence H. Wahl and Karen M. Wahl; the court entered a temporary restraining order with an asset freeze and a receiver the same day.
- The FTC alleged the operation took in more than $23 million from over 10,000 consumers nationwide before the 2016 halt, using telemarketers who falsely claimed to be a 'licensed enrollment center' for Mastercard and Visa and guaranteed permanent, substantial credit card interest rate reductions.
- A separate 'debt-elimination' service charged upfront fees from $2,500 to almost $26,000, falsely claiming access to government funds or a lawsuit against the credit card industry; the FTC said consumers who paid for it ended up deeper in debt rather than out of it.
- On December 14, 2018, a federal judge granted summary judgment for the FTC and the State of Florida against Guice, entering a permanent injunction banning him from telemarketing and the sale of debt relief services, and a monetary judgment of $23,099,878, not suspended, payable to the Commission for consumer redress; the court also ordered the surrender of a 55-foot ocean yacht named 'Tuff Life II' and a luxury-watch collection.
- Guice appealed to the Eleventh Circuit (No. 19-14248); a 2022 appellate ruling found Loyal Financial & Credit Services and Life Management Services were essentially the same company, using identical services and telemarketing scripts.
- In July 2023, the FTC mailed refund checks totalling more than $540,000 to 4,604 consumers, an average of $117 each, through administrator JND Legal Administration, with a second smaller round following for people who had cashed their first check and paid the defendants additional money.
Why this case matters
It is the largest documented case of this scheme and shows the structure these operations use to survive scrutiny: 13 affiliated shell companies and five named individuals sharing identical scripts, so that shutting down one entity’s name barely slowed the calling.
A yacht, a watch collection, and $23 million
The FTC’s complaint described a straightforward, large-scale version of the pitch: robocalls claiming a “licensed” relationship with Mastercard and Visa, a guaranteed interest rate cut, and a second, more expensive “debt-elimination” tier charging up to almost $26,000 on a false promise of access to government funds. Guice did not settle. He contested the case, including an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, and lost on summary judgment, a court finding against him on the merits rather than a negotiated order. The $23,099,878 judgment was entered in full, not suspended for inability to pay, and a court-appointed receiver took possession of a yacht and a luxury watch collection traced to the scheme’s proceeds.
A small fraction, years later
The FTC’s 2023 refund round reached 4,604 of the more than 10,000 consumers the agency said were affected, at an average of $117 each. That is the ordinary arithmetic of consumer redress in a case like this: assets recovered years after the fact, divided among far more victims than the recovered total can fully compensate.
The caveat
Guice’s liability rests on a civil summary judgment, not a criminal conviction, and the underlying allegations in the FTC’s complaint were not tested at a jury trial; the court found no genuine factual dispute requiring one. The other individual defendants named in the 2016 complaint, Chase P. Jackowski, Linda N. McNealy, Clarence H. Wahl and Karen M. Wahl, are not covered by this case entry, and this page has not verified the outcome of the claims against them specifically.
Sources
- FTC and State of Florida Win Summary Judgment: Court Orders Ringleader of Debt-Relief Scam to Pay $23 Million and Imposes Industry Bans. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: The December 14, 2018 summary judgment, the $23,099,878 judgment, the permanent bans, the yacht and watch-collection surrender, the $23 million/10,000-consumer scale, the fee ranges, and the Andrew Smith quote.
- Life Management, Inc.. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: The June 14, 2016 complaint and TRO, the full list of 13 shell companies and five individual defendants, the docket number, and the Eleventh Circuit appeal.
- FTC Sends Checks to Consumers Harmed by Credit Card Interest Rate Reduction Scam. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-10-19. Supports: Context on the FTC's refund administration process used across both the Life Management and GDP Network cases.