VIRGINIA: Jay Jones Champions Corporate Elites Over Everyday Virginians

In the race for Virginia’s Attorney General, Democrat candidate Jay Jones pitches himself as a defender of justice, but his record paints a different picture—one of a politician rolling out the red carpet for corporate elites who exploit struggling Virginians. From casinos to predatory lenders to debt collectors, Jones shows he’s more comfortable with the powerful than protecting the little guy. His legislative history and affiliations raise a critical question: Whose side is he on?

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Let's start with the gambling industry, where Jones has shown genuine allyship with fat-cat casino developers.

In 2019, as a delegate, he voted to allow local communities to authorize casino gambling, despite evidence that it compounds economic inequality by preying on and profiting from low-income, elderly, and vulnerable populations, weakening family structures and exacerbating health problems.

Later that year, he championed a casino resort on Norfolk’s waterfront with a nearby Indian tribe, ignoring community concerns about the lack of an independent impact study and the tribe's inexperience with casinos.

In 2020, he voted to allow sports betting. As more states have legalized the practice, lower-income men and families in the poorest counties have been hit the hardest. One study showed legalized sports gambling increases the household risk of bankruptcy 25–30 percent.

Jones's record on predatory lending reeks even worse, for which former Attorney General Mark Herring (D) correctly slammed him in the 2021 Democrat primary that Jones lost.

In 2020, Jones introduced a bill that would have offered a sweetheart deal to loan sharks. Had it passed, it would have let them charge 36 percent interest plus a daily fee, resulting in an APR of up to 320 percent on loans under $5,000. These loans disproportionately target struggling working-class families.

That same year, his delegate campaign received a $1,000 campaign contribution from collections attorney Mark Groves of the Glasser and Glasser, P.L.C. Collections Department, which practices statewide in Virginia.

In addition to the state's chief law enforcement officer, the Virginia Attorney General serves as the state's top consumer advocate. Jones's chumminess with corporate elites who profit from lower class misery reveals a candidate who would use the office to drive economic inequality.

It's a Family Affair

Giving loan sharks carte blanche to rake the little guy over the coals may seem strange for a candidate from a party that claims to support the little guy against big business. In addition to personifying the pro-working-class hypocrisy of the Democrat Party, Jones is a special case. His wife, Mavis Baah Jones, just happens to work as a PR executive for the legally troubled debt collection giant PRA Group, headquartered in Norfolk, with offices in 19 countries.

She describes her daily life as "identifying creative ways to promote the company's brand while working in a complex and highly regulated industry.”

It would likely make her job a lot easier if the state's chief regulator were her husband.

But one needn't imagine the loan collection practices that conflict of interest would bring. The PRA Group's subsidiary, Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA), is one of the largest debt collectors in the country and has been repeatedly penalized for its illegal and shady practices.

In 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered PRA to pay over $24 million in fines and damages for violating a 2015 order, including $12 million directly to victims. According to the CFBP, PRA "violated the 2015 order by collecting on unsubstantiated debt, collecting on debt without providing required documentation and disclosures to consumers, suing or threatening legal action against consumers without offering or possessing required documentation, and suing to collect on debt outside the statute of limitations.”

"After getting caught red-handed in 2015, Portfolio Recovery Associates continued violating the law through intimidation, deception, and illegal debt collection tactics and lawsuits," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.

This isn't the first time PRA has had to pay out for its shady practices. 

In 2019, it settled for $4 million in Massachusetts over allegations it engaged "in deceptive and unfair collection practices." 

In 2021, the California Department Of Financial Protection And Innovation subpoenaed PRA, alleging the company called consumers repeatedly, failed to validate debts, and threatened to sue them "for debts they do not owe." 

Last year, PRA settled for $5.75 million in a class action suit in North Carolina for "obtaining default judgments against North Carolina debtors without filing sufficient evidence to substantiate the debts claimed to be owed."

Sweetheart deals with companies that prey on the vulnerable

Jones has displayed a pattern of siding with corporate profits over the less fortunate who often turn to gambling or quick loans to get out of a tight spot. The availability of these options and those who exploit them exacerbate economic inequality—something Jones's party pretends to care about.

Supporters might claim Jones is just letting the poor have what they want and boosting economic growth. But increased addiction, debt traps, and profits for corporate predators at the expense of struggling working-class families harms the long-term economy and widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Virginians need an advocate who will regulate fairly, not someone who has a clear ideological and familial interest in boosting corporate profits for casino moguls, loan sharks, and debt collectors.

(READ MORE: VIRGINIA: Dem AG Candidate Jay Jones Puts Students' Lives at Risk to Attack Gun Rights)