Dave Ramsey, a Christian radio host who provides financial advice to millions of listeners using passaged from the Bible, is facing a $150 million lawsuit from 17 listeners who say he defrauded them by promoting a timeshare exit company, Religion News Service reported.
The lawsuit, which was filed in April, accuses Ramsey of promoting Timeshare Exit Team to the financial detriment of his listeners, saying he was paid around $30 million to advertise the company. The company is operated by Washington-based Reed Hein & Associates.
According to the suit, Reed Hein promised to get customers out of their timeshare agreements, but didn’t live up to its promises.
The plaintiffs say they paid thousands for Timeshare Exit’s services after listening to Ramsey and were often advised to negotiate their own exit deals, but found it impossible to contact Reed Hein. The lawsuit claims the company received $70 million in fees from customers referred to it by Ramsey.
“Instead of acknowledging the deception, Ramsey recorded a nine-minute radio segment in which he lashed out at anyone he felt to be responsible for Reed Hein’s woes,” the lawsuit stated. “Ramsey never returned any of the tens of millions of dollars Reed Hein and Happy Hour Media Group paid him from his own listeners’ hard-earned money. Instead, Ramsey has chosen to profit from his listeners’ money.”