Nexus Services, a company that offered GPS-monitoring services to immigrants hoping to receive bail while awaiting status decisions, has been ordered to pay more than $811 million in restitution after being found liable for engaging in deceptive and predatory tactics.According to The Associated Press, a federal judge ordered that Nexus make substantial payments to states named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit—with New York alone receiving an estimated $231 million in restitution, alongside penalties of about $13.8 million.Nexus—as well as subsidiary Libre by Nexus, and three of the company’s executives—must also pay upward of $111 million in civil penalties.“This judgment is a victory for thousands of immigrant families who lost their life savings and were targeted and preyed on by Libre,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Libre exploited vulnerable immigrants and their families to pad its pockets, and that is illegal and unconstitutional.”

A gavel. Image via Wikimedia Commons via Flickr/user: Brian Turner. (CCA-BY-2.0).

The Associated Press notes that James joined the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and attorneys general of Virginia and Massachusetts in a coordinated claim against Nexus, which was originally filed in 2021.In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said that Nexus Services and its subsidiary company, Libre by Nexus, promised to help secure immigrants’ release on bond—but misrepresented the purpose and cost of their GPS devices and GPS-monitoring program.Nexus, apparently performing a role similar to that of a bail-bond agent, typically required that immigrants pay a high price for its GPS-monitoring service. However, these fees were allegedly excessive, and often led families to pay thousands of dollars more than the cost of migrants’ actual bonds.U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon, who ordered the judgment against Nexus on Tuesday, observed in her written decision Nexus Services is neither a licensed bail-bond agent nor a surety company certified by the U.S. Treasury. Instead, it is a “service provider that acts as an intermediary between immigration detainees and sureties and their bond agents.”Nexus Services has said that it plans to appeal the ruling, calling it a “shocking departure from normal American jurisprudence” that was decided “without evidence, without a trial and without a damages hearing.”“We continue to remain committed to serving our clients—people who suffer and sacrifice for a better life, and who do not deserve to be political pawns in an American legislature or an American courtroom,” Nexus said in a statement.However, Dillon’s order was issued only after Nexus allegedly refused to release financial and business records during discovery—with one of the company’s former attorneys informing the court that he had been unable to convince Nexus to divulge documents that it was legally required to share.Dillon’s written opinion also emphasized that Nexus has been sanctioned for failure to adhere to court rules in at least two other federal lawsuits.Nexus’s actions, Dillon said in a May 2023 hearing, “[indicate] a lack of candor with the court and a delusion as to the exigency of the situation.”

Sources

Company helping immigrants in detention ordered to pay $811M+ in lawsuit alleging deceptive tacticsJudge rules against Nexus in federal lawsuitLawsuit: Virginia company exploits immigrants needing bail