--- title: Race Car Driver Scott Tucker Indicted in Massive Payday Lending Scam description: Officials say the scam involving race car driver Scott Tucker, allegedly defrauded 4.5 million with deceptive payday loan terms. authors: - name: Denver Nicks url: https://money.com/author/denver-nicks/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 60 covers: - Loans - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/DenverNicks - https://plus.google.com/105122198911201917932 former_staff: true published: '2016-02-11T16:05:11.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T09:59:52.000Z' section: Loans tags: - Crime - DOj - fraud - Mimai Tribe - Native Americans - payday lending - payday loans - pubdesk - Scams - Scott Tucker word_count: 269 canonical: https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Scott Tucker of the United States and driver of the #33 Level 5 Motorsports HPD Honda during scrutineering for the 80th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at Place de La Republique on June 11, 2012 in Le Mans, France.](https://img.money.com/2016/02/160211_em_scotttucker.jpg?crop=0px%2C76px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85) *Scott Tucker* A group of men, including professional race car driver Scott Tucker, have been arrested and indicted on federal charges for defrauding millions through payday lending scams, according to [records](http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-charges-against-owner-and-attorney-2-billion-unlawful) unsealed Wednesday. Scott Tucker and his attorney Timothy Muir were indicted by a New York grand jury and arrested in the Kansas City area Wednesday for allegedly defrauding more than 4.5 million people through deceptive loan terms that charged interest rates of as much as 700 percent. The Department of Justice says Tucker’s scam grew into a $2 billion business, which he protected from regulatory oversight for years by striking sham arrangements with Native American tribes, including the Miami Tribe of northeastern Oklahoma. Another Kansas City-area payday lender was [arrested](http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article59551056.html) Wednesday for allegedly defrauding 620,000 people in a similar fashion. The DOJ announced it had reached a non-prosecution agreement with the the Miami Tribe, which, prosecutors allege, systematically helped Tucker hide his involvement in the business and protect it from regulatory oversight due to the special tribal sovereignty status tribes enjoy in the United States. Two tribally owned corporations associated with the operation struck a deal with the DOJ “to forfeit $48 million in criminal proceeds” stemming from Tucker’s businesses. Payday lending arrangements, in which working people get short term, super high-interest loans, disproportionately affect poor and financially struggling people. Typical payday loan users incur high fees, and [one study](https://money.com/payday-loans-study-debt-default/) found that nearly half default within two years of their first loan. Scott Tucker has been the subject of criminal investigations for [decades](http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/09/28/6656/race-car-driver-scott-tucker-drew-elaborate-facade-around-his-payday-loan-businesses), including three financial crimes for which he was sentenced to a year in federal prison in 1991. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Loans", "item": "https://money.com/loans/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bad Credit Loans", "item": "https://money.com/bad-credit-loans/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Race Car Driver Scott Tucker Indicted in Massive Payday Lending Scam" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/", "name": "Race Car Driver Scott Tucker Indicted in Massive Payday Lending Scam", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-02-11T16:05:11.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T09:59:52.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Race Car Driver Scott Tucker Indicted in Massive Payday Lending Scam", "articleSection": "Loans", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/02/160211_em_scotttucker.jpg?crop=0px%2C76px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "160211_EM_ScottTucker" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Denver Nicks", "url": "https://money.com/author/denver-nicks/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/denver-nicks/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2012/09/09_1165862081.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/DenverNicks", "https://plus.google.com/105122198911201917932" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-02-11T16:05:11.000Z", "description": "Officials say the scam involving race car driver Scott Tucker, allegedly defrauded 4.5 million with deceptive payday loan terms.", "abstract": "Officials say the scam involving race car driver Scott Tucker, allegedly defrauded 4.5 million with deceptive payday loan terms.", "@id": "https://money.com/scott-tucker-payday-loan-scam/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T09:59:52.000Z", "wordCount": 269, "keywords": [ "Crime", "DOj", "fraud", "Mimai Tribe", "Native Americans", "payday lending", "payday loans", "pubdesk", "Scams", "Scott Tucker" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Loan", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loan" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Subprime lending", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_lending" ] } ] } ] } ```