Action urged against AmeriDebt founder

The founder of a now-defunct credit counseling firm accused of cheating thousands of debtors is hiding assets even though he agreed to contribute millions of dollars to help repay the debtors, a court-appointed receiver told a federal judge Tuesday.

The receiver, Robb Evans & Associates, wants Andris Pukke held in contempt of court, alleging that the former head of AmeriDebt is using friends and families to hide substantial assets -- including an online betting venture, a house in Laguna Beach, a development in Belize and bank accounts in Latvia.

Hiding the assets would violate the terms of a 2006 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that set up a restitution fund of as much as $35 million. So far, only about $10 million of Pukke’s money has been turned over to the FTC, which had sued him and Germantown, Md.-based AmeriDebt for allegedly charging customers $172 million in hidden fees.

“There has been utter lack of cooperation on Mr. Pukke’s part,” Gary Caris, an attorney for Robb Evans & Associates, told U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Greenbelt, Md., during a hearing on the contempt request.

A federal judge froze Pukke’s assets in 2005 and placed them in control of the receiver.

In testimony Tuesday, Pukke claimed the attorney was overstating his control over money.

AmeriDebt once was one of the nation’s largest firms meant to help debt-laden customers pay off their loans. But in its lawsuit, the FTC claimed that AmeriDebt collected upfront fees that customers thought were going to pay down their debt but instead went to AmeriDebt. Pukke allegedly used that money, collected from about 300,000 people, to fund a lavish lifestyle.