Washington, D.C.— Yesterday, a unanimous Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office announced a record-setting enforcement action against a massive Illinois auto dealer group. Leader Automotive Group will pay $20 million for repeatedly defrauding scores of car buyers, even after it was notified that it was being investigated.

“The FTC and Attorney General Raoul deserve enormous credit for fighting hard to bring this deceitful car dealer to justice,” said Erin Witte, director of consumer protection at Consumer Federation of America. “Leader defrauded its customers with overpriced and worthless add-ons, intentionally destroyed evidence of its wrongdoing, and shamed and punished its employees who tried to speak out. The sad reality is that this is likely a small fraction of the auto dealer fraud that occurs across the country every day, and we hope the new administration will continue these efforts to level the playing field for car buyers and honest dealers.”