The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Blackstone Legal and its owners alleging that they deceived customers to collect fictitious debts.
In February 2025 , the FTC charged Blackstone Legal and its associated companies as well as its owners, Ryan Evans and Mitchell Evans, with operating an operation to convince consumers to pay fake bills. Falsely, consumers were told that they would be sued and that their credit rating would be damaged. They were also told their wages were going to garnished. Millions of dollars were lost by consumers.
Christopher Mufarrige is the Director of FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This operation collected false debts, harassed customers with fake lawsuit threats and damaged their credit if they did not pay,” he said. “Scams such as this harm consumers and undermine legitimate debt collections, and the FTC continues to take action to stop them.”
The FTC and the defendants agreed on a proposed settlement order that:
- Permanently ban all defendants from the debt recovery industry
- The defendants are prohibited from making any false or misleading statements about the goods or services they sell or promote.
- The defendants are prohibited from using false or fraudulent representations in order to obtain financial information from consumers and from impersonating businesses.
- The defendants must turn over all of their assets including bank accounts and investments.
The order includes a total monetary judgement of $8,254,368, but the amount is suspended in part due to the defendants’ failure to pay. If it is found that the defendants lied to FTC about their financial situation, the entire judgment will become immediately due.
The Commission approved the final order stipulated by the Commission with a vote of 3-0. The FTC filed its proposed order in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.
NOTEStipulated Final Orders or Injunctions Have the Force of Law When Approved and Signed by the District Court Judge
Quinn Martin and Jason Sanders, of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the FTC, were the staff attorneys in this case.
