American Express (AXP-0.29%) agreed to pay a total of about $230 million Thursday to settle allegations of past deceptive marketing practices associated with its wire products.
In one case, Amex agreed to pay more than $138 million — including a nearly $78 million criminal fine — to the Eastern District of New York for allegedly providing inaccurate tax advice for two of its wire products, Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire.
“Financial institutions like American Express have no business pitching inaccurate tax avoidance schemes to sell products and turn a quick profit,” acting U.S. attorney Judy Philips said in a statement. “This resolution ensures that American Express will be held financially accountable for the unacceptable conduct of its sales employees in misrepresenting the tax benefits of these products.”
Those two products were allegedly marketed as a way for small- and mid-size businesses to generate tax savings, giving them a reduced tax burden because the wiring fees were purportedly entirely deductible as a business expense.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office claims that Amex didn’t consult with tax professionals to verify the tax advice, and that the firm misled customers by touting tax breaks that didn’t exist.
Amex simultaneously reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a civil penalty of $108.7 million to settle related allegations of deceptive marketing. According to the DOJ, Amex allegedly misrepresented “card rewards or fees and whether credit checks would be done without a customer’s consent,” and submitted “falsified financial information for prospective customers, such as overstating a business’s income.”
Federal regulators also alleged that Amex allowed certain small business customers to acquire credit cards without the required employer identification numbers.
The company said it ended the sale of the products included in the settlement in in 2021 or earlier.
“We cooperated extensively with these agencies and our regulators and took decisive voluntary action to address these issues, including discontinuing certain products several years ago, conducting a comprehensive internal review, taking appropriate disciplinary measures, making organizational changes, and enhancing policies, compliance, and training programs,” Amex said in a statement.
The company will also pay a not-yet-defined sum to the Fed in the coming weeks. The settlements won’t impact the company’s 2024 guidance, Amex said.
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