FTC Obtains Court Order Against Final Defendant in Phantom Debt Scheme

The final defendant in an operation that posed as lawyers and falsely threatened to sue people or have them arrested for failing to pay on debts they did not owe is banned from the debt collection business under a recently entered court order.

At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, the federal court entered a default judgment against Dequan M. Sicard, granting the injunctive and equitable monetary relief that the FTC sought in a complaint filed in July 2017. The court recently entered a stipulated order against the other defendants in the case.

Under the order, Sicard is banned from participating in debt collection activities, buying or selling consumer or commercial debt, and trading in consumer information related to a debt. He is also prohibited from making misrepresentations about any product or service, profiting from consumers’ personal information obtained from any debt collection activities, and failing to dispose of consumers’ information properly.

The order imposes a $702,059 judgment against Sicard. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, entered the default judgment on January 23, 2018.