After pressure from Attorney General Ellison, federal agency finally distributes checks to Minnesotans defrauded by Prehired
Online training program defrauded consumers and agreed to cancel debt and refund $80K to Minnesota consumers, with refunds to be distributed by the CFPB
After months of regular updates to states, CFPB went silent in February of 2025
Following pressure from AG Ellison, CFPB finally releases funds for restitution
June 2, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is finally providing long-delayed restitution to victims of a predatory tech sales program in Minnesota and other states after their attorneys general pressed the agency for answers in May.
In a May 6 letter to the CFPB’s acting director, Attorney General Ellison and a bipartisan coalition of 11 other state attorneys general detailed how, after they filed an enforcement action against Prehired LLC for illegal, deceptive and abusive practices, a 2023 court order resulted in $4.2 million in restitution for some 660 consumers nationwide, including nearly $80 thousand in relief for Minnesota victims. The letter then describes how unexplained delays at the CFPB kept those checks from being distributed to scam victims.
The CFPB announced they would be distributing refund checks in May 2024. For the remainder of 2024, states received regular updates regarding the federal government’s progress on distributing these funds to Prehired’s victims. But in February of this year, the CFPB stopped providing information about the process. This roughly coincided with a Trump Administration order directing CFPB employees not to come into the office and not to “perform any work tasks.” The CFPB finally broke its silence on the refund checks after the attorneys general publicly pressured the agency to act in a letter sent to acting CFPB director Russell Vought on May 6. The Attorney General’s Office is still gathering information about how many individuals have received restitution so far.
“When Prehired scammed people just trying to get an education and better afford their lives, I took them to court with the CFPB in 2023 and won refunds for Minnesota consumers,” said Attorney General Ellison. “It is unacceptable that Donald Trump illegally tried to shut down the CFPB and that the agency was not sending refund checks to defrauded Minnesotans. While I’m glad what’s left of the CFPB responded to pressure and released the refunds my office secured for Minnesota consumers, it should not take public pressure for Trump’s federal government to simply do its job. After waiting years for relief, I hope these refunds help those affected to move on from such a terrible experience.”
Background
For years, Prehired used deceptive marketing tactics to lure Minnesotans into paying up to $30,000 for Prehired’s unlicensed online sales training program, in part by guaranteeing students would land tech sales jobs paying $60,000 or more. Most students could not afford to pay for the program, and Prehired offered them income-share loans, which it represented they would not have to pay until they got a high-income job through Prehired. In reality, Prehired required consumers to pay even if they never got a job. When students failed to pay on massive debt from the program, Prehired pursued aggressive collection techniques such as filing lawsuits and initiating arbitration proceedings against students across the country.
Attorney General Ellison joined other state attorneys general along with the CFPB in a consumer protection enforcement action against Prehired, resulting in the court order that Prehired return $4.2 million to those who made payments on the company’s loans.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in the bipartisan May 6 letter were attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, and Washington.
