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Warren Stephens is another billionaire nominated by Trump with a history of ripping off vulnerable people. In 2013, Warren Stephens criticized the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in an interview. What he failed to disclose was that the CFPB was investigating a payday lender owned by Stephens for predatory lending, including charging interest rates as high as 1,369%. Stephens’ investment firm was more recently involved in a controversial bond issued by Alabama’s prison system which has come under scrutiny from multiple lawsuits and government agencies for their treatment of prisoners. Stephens also has a long history of donating to anti-Trump candidates. |
2013: Warren Stephens Attacked Consumer Financial Protection Bureau At The Same Time It Was Investigating His Payday Lender. According to CBC, "In June 2013, the Wall Street Journal asked Republican mega-donor Warren Stephens about the state of small businesses in the United States. The Arkansas banking mogul said they were being squeezed by excessive federal regulation and singled out one agency: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 'The stories we hear about that are pretty scary,' the billionaire said. Here is what was not mentioned. The same federal watchdog that Stephens referred to, the CFPB, was investigating the practices of an online payday lender that had been part of his business empire. Leaked offshore financial records reveal that Stephens had quietly used a set of family trust funds to own a large stake in the parent of the loan company, Integrity Advance, during the time in which the federal agency alleges that the lender ripped off tens of thousands of consumers. The agency says Integrity Advance broke the law by misleading borrowers about the high costs of their loans and aggressively siphoning money out of their bank accounts." [CBC, 11/7/17]
Warren Stephens’ Integrity Advanced Charged Customers With Interest Rates As High As 1,369%
Warren Stephens' Integrity Advanced Charged Customers With Interest Rate As High As 1,369%. According to CBC, "As Integrity Advance's business grew, so did complaints to state regulators from its borrowers across the country. In May 2013, a Minnesota district court ordered the company to pay nearly $8 million in civil penalties and victim restitution, asserting that the firm had 'targeted some of the State's most financially vulnerable citizens' with interest rates as high as 1,369 per cent." [CBC, 11/7/17]
2022: Warren Stephens’ Company Underwrote Bond Issue For Alabama’s State Prison System. According to the Arkansas Times, “Justice reform advocates have been fighting a proposal for Alabama to issue $725 million in bonds for a $1.3 billion expansion of the state prison system supplemented by federal pandemic relief and state money. The bonds, with Stephens Inc. of Little Rock as a co-underwriter, went to market Tuesday but Bloomberg reported weak demand from buyers, some $200 million short of expectations. Stephens didn’t comment on the article but the state may have to scale back the issue.” [Arkansas Times, 6/29/22]
Warren Stephens Backed Anti-Trump Candidates During 2016 And 2024 Election Cycles. According to the New York Times, “In 2016, Mr. Stephens, the chief executive of Stephens, Inc., an investment bank based in Little Rock, Ark., gave $2 million to a group aiming to stop Mr. Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination. During the most recent election cycle, he backed other Republican presidential candidates, including Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie, Mike Pence and Nikki Haley.” [New York Times, 12/2/24]