Employees at one of America’s largest credit repair companies stumbled upon their new CEO’s alleged dark past — and just 13 days later he disappeared.
Credit.com, a conglomerate that offers to help people reduce or eliminate their credit card debt by negotiating with creditors, introduced its new CEO, Rams Meijer, on June 11. Current and former employees he told the Salt Lake Tribune.
But a simple Google search revealed that Ramses Meijer was accused of “increasingly sexual comments and physical conduct” by some of his former colleagues.
As news of his sexual misconduct spread throughout the workplace, some employees said they feared for their safety and several threatened to quit, according to the Tribune.
It was the final straw for many employees of the conglomerate, which had been struggling for years after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued it in 2019.
Ramses Meijer was introduced as Credit.com’s new CEO on June 11, but was fired two weeks later.
Credit repair companies cannot charge customers until they settle with creditors under a provision of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.
As a result, the setup fees or early billing fees that Credit.com’s parent company, PGX Holdins and its subsidiaries, would charge would be illegal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau argued.
In March 2023, a federal judge in Utah banned Credit.com (a conglomerate that included Progrexion, Credit.com, CreditRepair.com, and Lexington Law) from engaging in telemarketing for 10 years and subsequently ordered a nearly $2.7 billion settlement.
Additionally, Progrexion faced a $45.8 million fine and Lexington Law faced an $18 million settlement.
Credit repair giants conspired to line their pockets with billions of dollars in fees, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said after the incident.
‘This scam is another sign that we need to do more to fix our country’s credit reporting and scoring system.’
Credit.com, a conglomerate that offers to help people reduce or eliminate their credit card debt by negotiating with creditors, was sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2019.
After paying the hefty fines, the companies closed their call centers and laid off nearly 1,000 people.
But things got worse when two Utah employees separately sued Progrexion for failing to issue a WARN notice, which requires employers to provide at least 60 days’ written notice of impending mass layoffs.
The companies later filed for bankruptcy, which put lawsuits under the WARN Act on hold and halted the settlement.
Meanwhile, company executives received bonuses, with former CEO Chad Wallace receiving a $577,000 bonus in June 2023.
Months later, Credit.com Holdings LLC organized to protect the lenders’ interests and purchased the assets of Progrexion and related companies out of bankruptcy.
Blue Torch Finance has also undertaken to manage the company’s assets.
Now, many of Credit.com’s remaining employees are former employees of Progrexion or Lexington Law.
But overall, the conglomerate that once had several thousand employees now has fewer than 200.
Even more people were laid off as recently as last month.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau argued that the conglomerate violated federal law by charging customers until they negotiated with credit card companies.
In an attempt to turn things around, they hired Meijer to replace Wallace.
But all it took was a simple search to find a May 2023 appeals court ruling on an appeal of the sexual misconduct allegation, which was settled privately and all documents filed before the settlement were sealed.
The ruling stated that online travel company Orbitz Worldwide (owned by Expedia Group) hired the plaintiffs’ company, Havas, to create an advertising and marketing campaign.
Meijer worked for Orbitz and managed the project from their side.
Former CEO Chad Wallace received a $577,000 bonus in June 2023
But as Havas employees worked on the project, they were quickly subjected to “frequent sexual comments and unwanted physical contact,” which escalated to alleged sexual assault at an Expedia-sponsored event, according to court documents obtained by the Tribune.
The plaintiffs reached a private settlement with Havas, and a trial judge ruled that the agreement meant Orbitz would have to pay less in a separate settlement under Illinois law.
The plaintiffs, however, disagreed and asked the appeals court to overturn that decision.
They claimed each employer protected Meijer and enabled its alleged predatory behavior, but argued that the effects of each company’s complicity were distinct and should be treated separately.
The appeals court, however, upheld the initial ruling in favor of the companies.
As court documents spread among Credit.com employees, some filed formal complaints with the human resources department, while others stopped coming into the office.
Some even said they would not meet with Meijer privately or at all, and several threatened to resign if he kept his job.
“This was the icing on the cake,” former employee Taisia Auston told the Tribune.
“I felt like the universe was telling me: ‘You should leave.'”
Finally, just 13 days after introducing the new CEO, Lee Hastel, a partner at Blue Torch and a member of Credit.com’s board of directors, told staff that Meijer would be leaving the company.
He said the board knew nothing about Meijer’s past and announced that Scott Mackley would serve as interim CEO, according to the Tribune.
Some of the employees said they believed Hastel and took his statement that he took them seriously, saying there are still things worth fighting for.
Kensey Slone, for example, said she is proud of the culture she and her colleagues helped foster, which she said is supportive, encouraging and diverse.
“We really care about each other.”
DailyMail.com has reached out to Credit.com, Meijer and the company where he now works, WerkMagic, for comment.
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