EZCORP has appointed David McGuire as deputy chief financial officer and chief accounting officer, effective as of Jan. 11. The hiring of McGuire comes two months after the payday lender and pawn shop operator announced that it has filed its amended and past due periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Those reports contain restated financial information for fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012 and the first quarter of fiscal 2015.  The company previously had announced that it was restating its financial statements for those periods to correct certain accounting errors associated with its Grupo Finmart loan portfolio.

The filings “complete an exhaustive process to identify the nature, extent, and impact of the accounting issues associated with our Grupo Finmart loan portfolio,” EZCORP’s Chief Executive Officer Stuart Grimshaw said in a statement. “We are highly conscious of the need to ensure controls and procedures across all our businesses meet high standards, and we will work with our Audit Committee to achieve and maintain those standards.”

McGuire joins EZCORP after 14 years with Ernst &Young, where he most recently served as senior manager in the financial accounting advisory services practice. Since July 2015, McGuire has been engaged with EZCORP, providing project management oversight and technical accounting subject-matter expertise in connection with the restatement of previously issued financial statements.

Legal Trouble

Last month, EZCORP reached a $10 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to resolve illegal debt collection practices. According to the CFBP, EZCORP violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition against unfair and deceptive acts or practices.

Specifically, the CFPB’s investigation found that the illegal debt collection tactics used by EZCORP included illegal visits to consumers at their homes and workplaces, empty threats of legal action, lying about consumers’ rights, and exposing consumers to bank fees through unlawful electronic withdrawals.

The CFPB ordered EZCORP to refund $7.5 million to 93,000 consumers, pay $3 million in penalties, and stop collection of remaining payday and installment loan debts owed by roughly 130,000 consumers. It also bars EZCORP from future in-person debt collection.

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