Mark E. Curry

Last updated
Mark Curry
MarkECurry (cropped).jpg
Born (1968-02-13) February 13, 1968 (age 54)
Tonganoxie, Kansas
EducationRockhurst University
Baker University
OccupationBusiness founder and owner

Mark E. Curry (born February 13, 1968) is an American businessman who is the founder of the MacFarlane Group and SOL Partners, as well as Executive Pride, an LGBT support network for corporate executives.

Contents

Career

Curry founded Geneva Roth Ventures and Geneva Roth Capital, which partnered with banks in Utah and offered payday loans through the website LoanPointUSA, often with high interest rates. [1] [2] [3] [4] Curry's payday loan websites were under sanctions by state regulators since 2007, and by 2014, the company had been barred from doing business in at least six states, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Indiana, Oregon, and Washington. [2] [1] The company also paid $60,000 to the Arkansas Attorney General for charging interest rates that were exponentially higher than allowed by the state constitution, as well as a $233,000 settlement in Montana. [2] [1]

Curry founded a private-equity company, the MacFarlane Group, based in Kansas and licensed to provide online loans in Utah, which does not cap interest rates. [5] [2] [6] The company was backed by the hedge fund, Medley Opportunity II Fund, based in New York. [2] [4] In February 2010, the MacFarlane Group partnered with American Web Loan, operated by the Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma, to provide high-interest online lending services. [7] [2] The company has defended its high rates of interest by claiming that it is immune against state usury laws because of the tribe's sovereign status, an argument that was subsequently rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after the company was served a cease-and-desist letter by the New York Attorney General. [4] [2]

By 2014, American Web Loan was one of the largest payday lenders in the United States, with a typical annual interest rate of around 700 percent on loans it provided. [2] According to investment group Middlemarch Partners that brought a lawsuit over fees against Curry, the MacFarlane Group generated over $100 million in annual revenue from American Web Loan. [2] [4] The tribe received only around one percent of the revenue based on an loan portfolio arrangement with Curry, while the chair of the tribe, John Shotton, said the company was an important financial asset for the tribe. [4] [2] Curry has said he was a consultant to American Web Loans, and his company provided call centers and financial services. [2] Curry later testified that his companies handled most aspects of the business operations, including lead generation, loan processing, money transfers, and collection services. [4] Curry also testified that between 2010 and September 2016, MacFarlane Group made around $110 million, while the tribe received $8 million. [4]

In October 2016, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe announced its acquisition of the MacFarlane Group, paying $200 million by taking out loans from Curry and his company SOL Partners. [7] [4] After the purchase, the tribe began to receive 3.6 percent of the revenues. [4]

In 2019, in response to a class action lawsuit alleging illegal predatory lending by American Web Loan, Virginia federal judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. ruled that the tribe cannot claim sovereign immunity for the company because it was actually still controlled by Curry. [4] The company agreed to settle the lawsuit in April 2020 for $141 million, including $65 million in cash and $76 million in loan cancellation. [8] [9] The settlement was approved by a judge in April 2021 after being raised to $182 million, including an additional $21 million from Curry. [10] As part of the settlement, Curry agreed to stop all managerial and operational roles at American Web Loan. [4]

Curry is the president and CEO of SOL Partners, which was founded in 2012 and provides Spanish-language call center services to payday lenders. [4] [11] SOL Partners helped manage key lending functions of American Web Loan. [4]

Philanthropy

Mark Curry is the founder of Executive Pride, a network of executives supporting LGBT rights. [12]

Curry founded the Mark E. Curry Family Foundation in 2015. [13] The foundation hosts an annual "Club Curry" fundraising gala to benefit a selected grantee; the 2016 gala benefitted the San Jorge Children's Foundation in Puerto Rico. [14] [13] [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Arnett, Dugan (July 12, 2014). "Payday loan case showcases brutal interest rates in an industry under fire". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on May 31, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Faux, Zeke (November 24, 2014). "Behind 700% Loans, Profits Flow Through Red Rock to Wall Street". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Mark Curry named his payday company after a shell company in the movie Wall Street, and other revelations from yesterday's Bloomberg story". The Pitch. 2014-11-26. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Goldberg, Ryan (May 31, 2021). "How a Payday Lender Partnered With a Native Tribe to Bypass Lending Laws and Get Rich Quick". The Intercept.
  5. ↑ Paznoikas, Mark (April 6, 2015). "Tribal Lenders Claim Right To Charge 448% On Loans In CT". Hartford Courant.
  6. ↑ O'Connell, Brian (11 April 2016). "20% of U.S. households have negative net wealth".
  7. 1 2 "MacFarlane Group Purchase Will Augment Tribe's E-commerce, Lending Capabilities". Tribal Business Journal. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017.
  8. ↑ Hill, Jon (April 16, 2020). "Online Lender Settles Tribal Lending Suit With $141M Deal". Law360.
  9. ↑ "Payday lender settles class action suit". Virginia Lawyers Weekly. July 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ Westney, Andrew (April 8, 2021). "Tribal Lending Deal With Larger $182M Payout Gets Initial OK". Law360.
  11. ↑ R. Gómez, Antonio (November 19, 2016). "Nuevo motor para la economía". El Nuevo Día.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Chris (April 21, 2016). "Trump latest to oppose North Carolina anti-LGBT law". Washington Blade .
  13. 1 2 Rivera Arguinzoni, Aurora (January 10, 2017). "Celebran una gala a beneficio de la Fundación San Jorge". El Nuevo Día.
  14. ↑ "Entregan donativo a Fundación de Niños San Jorge".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ Shine, Conor (January 1, 2013). "Monopoly-themed party opens community chest for Shade Tree". Las Vegas Sun.
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