Judgment has been entered against Vervent Inc. for $12 million by a California federal judge. A jury verdict was reached following a two-week trial held in San Diego in June 2023 over the predatory lending scheme. John J. Grogan, Irv Ackelsberg and David A. Nagdeman of Langer Grogan & Diver PC represented the student borrowers along with co-counsel Tim Blood, James Davis and Paula Brown of Blood, Hurst and O’Reardon and Paul Arons of The Law Office of Paul Arons.
“It’s always a great day when a jury holds fraudsters accountable for the harm they cause consumers. Vervent and its CEO David Johnson will have to pay for their knowing participation in a conspiracy to defraud the federal government and student borrowers by collecting on and attempting to give a legitimate face to an entirely fraudulent student loan program. We look forward to continuing to litigate the remaining claims in this matter to make sure that the ITT students who were harmed receive full reimbursement for the payments they made due to defendants’ fraudulent collection activities.”
David A. Nagdeman
This is the first civil RICO jury verdict LGD is aware of where a servicer has been found liable as a conspirator with the primary wrongdoer.