NAID : News : Texas AG Hangs Tough Announcing New Charges and the Highest Settlement on Record

TEXAS AG HANGS TOUGH ANNOUNCING NEW CHARGES AND THE HIGHEST SETTLEMENT ON RECORD

Within the span of 5 days last month, in separate incidents, the office of the Texas Attorney General 1) issued new charges for violating the state’s information destruction requirement and 2) announced a settlement with EZCORP in the amount of $600,000.00 related to the similar charges filed against it last year.

According to an article by Chris Rizo published on the website of Legal Newsline on June 23rd, the Texas Attorney General’s Office also reached an agreement with a pawn and payday lending company, Austin-based EZCORP Inc., to pay $600,000.00 to the state. According to the article, the settlement stems from charges issued against the company when state investigators previously found evidence that hundreds of customers' records were improperly discarded by the company, violating the state’s destruction requirement.

To our knowledge this is the largest publicly announced settlement related to casual disposal ever. Previously announced settlements (in Texas) were for $315,000 (CVS Pharmacies), and $220,000 (Check & Go).

Just 5 days prior, in an unrelated case, the Texas AG’s office charged Houston-based Petroleum Wholesale, L.P., which operates Sunmart Travel Centers & Convenience Stores in 10 states, for casually discarded information that is required to be destroyed prior to disposal.

In this case, according to the report in the Pasadena, TX-based The Citizen on June 19th, Investigators with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) discovered that the company improperly discarded hundreds of customer records in a publicly accessible trash container outside its former headquarters.

Click here to read the complete article on the Texas AG’s $600,000.00 settlement with EZCORP.

Click here to read the article in The Citizen regarding the charges issued against Petroleum Wholesale, L.P.