RANDY ECONOMY: MY WORLD: Power Toyota of Cerritos Settles Consumer Case with Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Power Toyota of Cerritos Settles Consumer Case with Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

LOS ANGELES – A civil lawsuit against Power Toyota Cerritos has been settled with the car dealership agreeing to pay $172,000 in monetary relief including civil penalties and legal costs incurred by the District Attorney’s Office.

Deputy District Attorney Dana Aratani of the Consumer Protection Division said the dealership agreed to the settlement without admitting liability. Deputy District Attorney Thomas Wenke also worked on the case.

Under the terms of the stipulated judgment, the dealership is permanently enjoined from making untrue or misleading statements to customers in connection with the sale or lease of any vehicle.

Power Toyota Cerritos is owned by Mr. Wheels Incorporated, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The civil action filed by the District Attorney’s Office alleged that certain staff of Toyota Cerritos made false and misleading statements to customers in an effort to induce consumers to lease rather than purchase automobiles.

An investigation by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) revealed that misrepresentations to some customers included falsely advising them that they did not qualify for a loan, that they could convert a lease into a purchase at any time and that it was in their best financial interest to lease.

The practice resulted in greater commissions for the sales staff involved and higher prices for customers, prosecutors said. The allegations of unfair business practices and untrue or misleading statements are violations of California’s Business and Professions Code. The settlement provided restitution for the victims through a related administrative action by the DMV.

Power Toyota Cerritos worked cooperatively in both the investigation and in resolving the case with the District Attorney’s Office. The matter was settled concurrently with an administrative action brought by the DMV.

The stipulated judgment was signed on March 4 by Judge Mel Red Recana of the Los Angeles Superior Court and announced today.

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Meet Randy Economy

You may know me from my role as the Senior Advisor and Official Media Spokesman for the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign that established a worldwide blitz of interviews. I conducted more than 2,200 media interviews on behalf of “The People’s Recall” during a 10-month period from November 2020 to September 2021. The iconic magazine Mother Jones in a dramatic feature article called me “A ‘Superhero Pirate’ Radio Host, (and) Gavin Newsom’s Strangest—and Most Dangerous—Threat. Meet Randy Economy, the man behind the effort to recall California’s governor.” I appeared on more than 330 media outlets around the world in my capacity with RecallGavin2020. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, NBC Nightly News, ABC News, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and dozens of other media outlets aired featured reports on my work on behalf of “The People’s Recall.” I am and will always consider myself to be a journalist. Sometimes I think I bleed ink. My talents as an Investigative Journalists in California earned me FIVE top awards from the prestigious Los Angeles Press Club in 2013, 2014, and 2016. I am tenacious. My reporting over the years has led to the prosecution of several elected officials in California. While working for a tiny community newspaper in Southeast Los Angeles County, I worked doggedly to expose the biggest public corruption case in Los Angeles County history when I unearthed a massive pay to play scheme inside the Assessor’s Office that led to the arrest of then Assessor John R. Noguez and four others. However, politics has been in my DNA since I was a child. I have worked on more than 300 political campaigns as a consultant and advisor since 1982 for candidates from all sides of the political spectrum including Democrats and Republicans, and even Libertarians. I am also a small business owner, serving as the President and CEO of Hot Water Studio & Production, LLC. My company works with media outlets across the state, nation, and world exposing public corruption via several new media platforms. I have also overcome personal challenges. I am legally blind with zero vision in my right eye and only 40 percent vision remaining in my left eye. I sometimes wear an eyepatch due to my failed vision. (Hence the nickname of “America’s Political Pirate.”

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Power Toyota of Cerritos Settles Consumer Case with Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

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