In April 2016, Pressler and Pressler's two principal partners, Sheldon H. Pressler and Gerard J. Felt and "New Century Financial Services, Inc., a debt buyer", were ordered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) "to stop churning out unfair and deceptive debt collection lawsuits based on flimsy or nonexistent evidence." They were also barred from "illegal practices that can deceive or intimidate consumers, such as filing lawsuits without determining if debts in question are valid." The law firm, the partners themselves and the debt buyer were ordered to pay a total of $2.5 million in fines to the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund. The respondents "violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive acts or practices in the consumer financial marketplace."