Mission Settlement Agency's owner sentenced to 9 years for a $6.6 million scheme
Michael Levitis and his company, Mission Settlement Agency, pleaded guilty in April 2014 to mail and wire fraud after taking $6.6 million in fees from more than 1,200 financially struggling customers — including nearly $2.2 million from customers whose debt was never reduced at all. A federal judge sentenced Levitis in November 2014 to 108 months in prison, in one of the first criminal prosecutions built on a referral from the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Year
- 2014
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $6.6 million
- Victims
- 1,200
- Schemes
- Debt settlement scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-10
The facts, as recorded
- Mission Settlement Agency ("MISSION") began offering debt settlement services in 2009, soliciting financially disadvantaged people struggling with credit card debt through telemarketing and mail.
- MISSION falsely told customers it would charge $49 a month when it actually took thousands of dollars in fees, and falsely promised it could cut debts by roughly 45% when, for most customers, it did little or no work.
- Solicitation letters falsely suggested a federal government affiliation, including an image of the Great Seal of the United States and a fictitious "Office of Disbursement."
- MISSION received over $6.6 million in fees between 2009 and May 2013; for more than 1,200 of its customers it took nearly $2.2 million and never paid a cent to their creditors.
- Owner Michael Levitis and five co-conspirators — Denis Kurlyand, Boris Shulman, Manuel Cruz, Felix Lemberskiy and Zakhir Shirinov — were charged; the case followed a referral from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which brought separate civil charges against Mission and Levitis.
- Levitis and Mission pleaded guilty on 8 April 2014 before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.
- On 19 November 2014, Levitis was sentenced to 108 months in prison plus three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution of $2,196,522 and a $15,000 fine; Mission itself was fined $4,393,044.
- Levitis, then 38, used customers' money for expenses including a Brooklyn restaurant/nightclub he owned, two luxury Mercedes leases, his mother's credit card bills, and a reality television show he starred in during the scheme.
- Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara: "Michael Levitis preyed upon people across the country who ... were struggling to pay off their debts after the financial downturn. Through Mission Settlement Agency, Levitis lied about quick, guaranteed cures to their serious financial problems in order to trick them out of money they could not afford to lose."
- U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe, at sentencing: "There is something special and extraordinary about the crimes here: the fact that they were directed at desperate people, hundreds of desperate people drowning in debt, trying to find a way out of their problems."
Why this case matters
This is the criminal end of debt settlement fraud, not the civil-penalty end that more recent cases on this page occupy. Levitis and his co-conspirators were indicted, convicted and imprisoned — and the case was, at the time, one of the first criminal prosecutions to grow out of a referral from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, then barely two years old.
A $49-a-month lie
MISSION told prospective customers it would charge $49 a month. In fact it took thousands of dollars in fees per customer — money customers believed was building toward a settlement with their creditors. For more than 1,200 of them, none of it ever reached a creditor at all.
A fake government seal on a debt settlement pitch
The solicitation letters carried an image of the Great Seal of the United States and claimed to come from a “Reduction Plan Administrator” at a fictitious “Office of Disbursement” — manufacturing a government affiliation that a financially struggling person, already anxious and looking for an official-sounding way out, had every reason to trust.
Where the money actually went
Levitis spent customers’ fees on a restaurant and nightclub he owned, two luxury car leases, his mother’s credit card bills, and events tied to a reality television show he appeared in while the scheme was running — money that customers had been told was accumulating to pay down their own debt.
The caveat
This is a concluded case. Levitis and Mission Settlement Agency pleaded guilty, and Levitis was sentenced by a federal judge. The facts above are drawn from the Department of Justice’s own account of the guilty plea and sentencing, not unproven allegations.
People named in the public record
- Michael Levitis — convicted
Sources
- Owner Of Debt Relief Company Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To 108 Months In Prison For Multimillion-Dollar Scheme That Victimized Over 1,200 Financially Struggling People. US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. Accessed 2026-09-10. Supports: The 108-month sentence, the $2,196,522 restitution and $15,000 fine, Mission's $4,393,044 fine, the guilty plea date, Levitis's age and use of the money, and the Bharara and Gardephe quotes.
- Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Debt Settlement Company And Six Individuals For Multi-Million Dollar Scheme That Targeted Debt-Ridden Consumers. US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. Accessed 2026-09-10. Supports: The 2009 start date, the $6.6 million total fees, the $2.2 million taken with nothing paid to creditors, the co-defendants' names, the fake government letters, and the CFPB referral.