Mister Hankey, your next Secretary of Commerce.
he’s had action taken against him 4 times since ‘15 by the DOJ and other regulatory entities, totaling in the neighborhood of $50 million in settlements, penalties, and fines.
Providing Donald Trump’s $175 million appeal bond when other insurers wouldn’t is business as usual for California financier Don Hankey. As chairman of the Los Angeles-based Hankey Group of Companies, which includes an insurer, a subprime auto lender and a commercial real estate investment firm, Hankey has amassed a fortune lending to borrowers other financial firms shun.
Hankey’s assistance to Trump has brought the little-known billionaire into the spotlight. But in recent years, several of his companies’ operations attracted the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the California Department of Insurance. Since 2015, regulators have taken action against Hankey’s companies four times, public records show.
In 2017, for example, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court in California against Westlake Financial, Hankey’s big subprime auto lender. With a network of 50,000 car dealerships and $3 billion in managed assets, Westlake Financial calls itself “The Yes! Yes! Lender.”
www.nbcnews.com/...
Mr. Hankey earned a reputation as a provider of risky and lucrative loans, specifically collateral-based debt that can be arranged more quickly than conventional loans and requires borrowers to pledge valuable assets. His companies are known for relentlessly calling people who miss payments by a day, and repossessing vehicles from delinquent borrowers, according to news accounts and regulators.
Now, Mr. Hankey’s highest-profile client is running again for the White House and, if elected, could exert influence over federal regulation of his high-interest loan industry.
Mr. Hankey said he did not mind how it was invested as long as it could be liquidated into cash on short notice.
“I looked at it as business, No. 1,” Mr. Hankey said in an interview on Wednesday, “and No. 2, I was happy to help someone.”
www.nytimes.com/...