Jay Jones, Democrat candidate for Virginia’s attorney general, presents himself as a defender justice. However, his record shows a very different picture: a politician who is willing to give the red carpet to corporate elites that exploit Virginians in need. Jones has a history of siding with powerful people, whether it’s predatory lenders or debt collectors. The legislative history of Jones and his affiliations make it clear who he is on.

Let’s begin with the gambling industry. Jones has demonstrated a genuine allegiance with casino developers who are fat cats.

As a delegate in 2019, he approved the local communities’ authorization of casino gambling despite evidence showing that this practice exacerbates economic inequality, by exploiting and profiting off low-income and elderly populations, weakening families and exacerbating existing health problems.

He later that year championed with a nearby Indian Tribe a casino resort along Norfolk’s waterfront, ignoring community concerns regarding the lack of a independent impact study as well as the tribe’s lack of experience with casinos.

He voted in 2020 to allow sports gambling. Lower-income families and men in poorer counties are the most affected by the legalization of sports betting. Legalized sports gambling increased household bankruptcy risk by 25-30%, according to a study.

Jones’s track record on predatory loans is even worse. Former Attorney General Mark Herring(D) correctly criticized Jones in the Democrat primary of 2021, which Jones lost.

Jones presented in 2020 a bill which would have provided a sweetheart offer to loan sharks. If it had passed, they could have charged 36 percent plus a daily charge, which would result in an APR up to 320 per cent on loans below $5,000. These loans are disproportionately targeted at working-class families in financial difficulty.

Mark Groves, a collections lawyer at Glasser and Glasser P.L.C., contributed $1,000 to his delegate campaign in the same year. Collections Department which practices in Virginia.

Virginia’s Attorney General is also the top consumer advocate in the state. Jones’s coziness with corporate elites that profit from the misery of lower-class people reveals a candidate that would use his office to increase economic inequality.

A Family Affair

It may seem odd that a candidate of a party would give loan sharks the right to abuse the little guy. is a party that claims it supports the little guy in his fight against big business. Jones, in addition to personifying the hypocrisy that the Democrat Party has towards the working class, is a unique case. Mavis Baah, his wife, is a PR executive at the PRA Group in Norfolk.

She describes as “finding creative ways to promote a company’s brand in an industry that is complex and highly regulated.”

Her job would be made much easier if her husband was the chief regulator of the state.

One need not imagine the collection practices brought about by a conflict of interest. Portfolio Recovery Associates, a subsidiary of The PRA Group, is one the nation’s largest debt collectors and has been penalized repeatedly for its illegal practices.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered PRA in 2023 to pay $24 million to the victims and fines for violating a 2015. According to CFBP, PRA violated the 2015 order “by collecting unsubstantiated loans, collecting debts without providing disclosures and documentation to consumers, suing consumers or threatening legal actions without having the required documentation or possession of required documentation, suing consumers or threatening legal proceedings outside the statutes of limitations, and suing consumers to collect debt outside the statutes.”

Director of the CFPB Rohit Chopra said that after being caught in 2015 with a red-handed violation, Portfolio Recovery Associates has continued to violate the law by using intimidation, deception and illegal debt collection techniques and lawsuits.

It’s not the first time PRA had to pay for its unethical practices.

In 2019, paid $4 million to Massachusetts for allegations that it had engaged in “deceptive and unfair collections practices.”

The California Department Of Financial Protection And Innovation issued a subpoena to PRA in 2021. It claimed that the company had called consumers repeatedly and failed to validate their debts. They also threatened to sue the company “for debts which they did not owe.”

In North Carolina, PRA was awarded $5.75M in a class-action suit for “obtaining default judgements against North Carolina Debtors without filing enough evidence to substantiate debts alleged to be owed.”

Sweetheart Deals with Companies that Prey on the Vulnerable

Jones has a history of siding with the corporate profits and not the less fortunate, who are often forced to gamble or take out quick loans in order to escape a difficult situation. The availability of these options and those who exploit them exacerbate economic inequality–something Jones’s party pretends to care about.

Jones’ supporters might argue that Jones is simply letting the poor get what they want, and boosting the economy. Increased addiction, debt traps and profits for corporate predators on the backs of struggling families hurts the economy in the long run and widens gap between haves and have-nots. Virginians deserve an advocate that will regulate fairly and not someone with a strong ideological or familial interest to boost corporate profits of casino moguls and loan sharks.

This article first appeared on Jay Jones champions Casinos over everyday Virginians