The FTC targeted businessman James Douvas for ruin in $216 million lawsuit. It’s yet another case of federal officials with too much power, an unlimited budget, and a need for a scalp.
Federal Trade Commission headquarters in Washington. (Victoria Pickering, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
The National Whistleblower Center last month held its annual gathering of whistleblowers from both the public and private sectors in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building.
National Whistleblower Day is always a good event, a celebration of the people who put their careers on the line in the name of transparency. The speakers are always interesting, there’s strong bipartisan support for whistleblower protections, and it’s easy to make great connections there.
I stay in touch with a lot of whistleblowers, both in and out of government. We have something of a “community,” lending the occasional helping hand and moral support. Well, in the course of those discussions, I’ve come to realize that there is a parallel group of innocent victims of federal, state, and local authorities, and I would equate them to whistleblowers.
A fellow Greek-American, James Douvas, is, in my opinion an innocent victim of a government gone out-of-control. His case is not difficult to understand. Jimmy is a 52-year old father of three. His elder daughter graduated recently from a prestigious university, his second daughter is a junior at an equally prestigious place, and his son is in prep school in Chicago.
Jimmy freely admits that he got into trouble with drugs as a teenager, served time in the Illinois Department of Corrections, cleaned up his life, and started selling cars at a Pontiac dealership in Illinois. That was more than 33 years ago.
But he did very well for himself in the intervening years, moving from selling used cars to selling new cars to moving up to managing new car sales, followed by a promotion to finance manager, then general manager overseeing several dealerships. He was finally tapped to head Leader Automotive Group, the U.S. division of autoCanada, running 17 car dealerships.
During the Covid pandemic, the company found itself in some trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with the FTC accusing it of unfair trade practices, including forcing add-ons like Lojak anti-theft devices or paint protection packages on consumers and levying junk fees.
The company disputed the accusations, but its attorneys calculated that it would be cheaper and easier to pay a $20 million fine than to fight the accusations, a prospect that could have dragged on for years.
But the FTC wasn’t done yet. It wanted a head. Remember, these investigators don’t get promoted by not prosecuting a case. They don’t get promoted by saying, “Well, there’s no clear evidence of a crime, so maybe we should just wrap things up.” The easiest head for them to take sat on the shoulders of Jimmy Douvas.
FTC investigators began to take depositions from Leader Automotive Group employees — not all of them. Just six. Three of the six said in their depositions that they had only minimal contact with Jimmy.
One had been with the company for less than a year. One had been there for fewer than 90 days. None of the six had ever held a leadership position. Several of them had been fired for unethical behavior.
Why would investigators do that when there were more than 100 people who had worked alongside Jimmy for as long as 10 years? It was because the people who knew Jimmy and who worked with him didn’t have anything damaging to say about him.
There’s an old saying in criminal defense. It’s that any jury in America would convict a baloney sandwich if asked to do so. How many times have people asked rhetorically, “If he wasn’t guilty, the cops wouldn’t have arrested him, right?” Well, news flash: Jimmy wasn’t arrested or charged with any crime.
Still, that didn’t stop the FTC. Investigators continued their crusade and, in the end, they sued Jimmy. It was for $216 million. The publicly-traded company for which he worked had been ordered to pay $20 million. But the FTC, in its infinite wisdom, decided that a fine 11 times that which the company paid was appropriate for Jimmy.
James Douvas is asked in interview, “Are You the Only One They’re Going After?” (Screenshot, YouTube, May 19, 2025)
FTC officials aren’t stupid. They know that there’s no way for Jimmy to pay such a fine. But they did it for the sole purpose of ruining him. Check out the words of one of Jimmy’s former colleagues. He wrote on LinkedIn:
“I’ve worked with Jimmy and his teams…over the past 15 years. I’ve seen firsthand how he operates. His leadership style is principle-centered and people-focused, it’s unique and highly effective. He’s big on accountability and he always ran a tight ship and compliance was a big thing for him. This is my personal experience. He always prioritized, sales training and relational opportunities, service to sales, and loyal repeats and referrals.
He’s elevated more frontline salespeople into management than any executive I’ve met. He respected his managers immensely and encouraged them to make their own decisions. After all, that’s what leadership is all about. Making decisions.
If you’ve never been in the automotive trenches, let me offer a little perspective.
Ask yourself: Is it even possible for one man to personally ‘approve’ 2,000 deals a month while managing 10 rooftops, 17 franchises, used cars, service, parts, marketing, construction, HR, compliance, and so much more?
Let’s be real. This is a massive operation with layers of departments, contractors, and internal checks. How many people are responsible for all of these operations?
This case isn’t just about one man. If it sets a precedent, every major dealer group in America could be next.
A publicly traded company settles for $20 million and now all the weight is being thrown on one individual? $216 million?
That doesn’t sit right with me.
This isn’t just about Jimmy. It’s about leadership accountability, legal consistency, and how easily someone’s reputation can be weaponized.
‘This case isn’t just about one man. If it sets a precedent, every major dealer
group in America could be next. A publicly traded company settles for $20 million and now all the weight is being thrown on one individual? $216 million?’When someone invests decades building teams, developing people, and driving real growth, they deserve more than a headline. Let’s not confuse complexity with guilt. If this case succeeds, WHO’s next? How many operators could survive this level of scrutiny under the same assumptions?
If you care about the future of this industry, this isn’t a moment to watch silently. It’s a moment to ask better questions.
For those who know me, you know…I stand for integrity, truth, and accountability, especially in an industry where shortcuts are too common. My style has always been people-first, ethics-always.
At the end of the day, this industry is built on relationships. And based on the one I’ve had with Jimmy, I know how much he cares about the industry, his people and his clients and his vendors. I’ve seen him handle hundreds of referrals and I know so many people who trust him and bet on him.
I believe he deserves a fair shot, not a rushed judgment.
Truth has a way of rising. Let it rise here, too.”
My bottom line is the same. This is yet another case of government overreach. It is yet another case of federal officials with too much power, an unlimited budget, and a need for a scalp.
Jimmy Douvas is going to trial. It’ll be civil, rather than criminal, but he has no other choice. He has to try to protect himself and his family. The only alternative is to die in poverty.
John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Thank you John for posting this.
John you call them government, I would prefer you call them self righteous assholes, in a level playing field were all people are not juged by an equitable authority. Who is the true judge of any action. Not people who have a career interest.
By the way could you tell me if all these road side beggars are operatives? People want to know…. big smile!
Well, the bureaucrats can claim they’re getting tough on crime in the suites without upsetting 1/10th of 1%ers or CEOs of monstrous corporations with their 100s of skilled attorneys and lapdog political allies.
Mr. Douvas sounds like my stepfather. Whose very poor southern Italian parents immigrated for a chance at something better. He only had an 8th grade education and when young was involved in some businesses that were a bit shady. He eventually became an excellent salesman and a successful real estate broker whose employees loved him. When I went back to university, I had a summer job in maintenance. On my personal info the admin asst saw the name listed as family contacts and told me that was who sold her and her husband their house. She said she insisted on what they were looking for and they hated split levels. He called her and said come see–it was a split level. She said no; he said go look. “We bought it,” she said. Not by deception or pressure, but because he could read people very well and understood what they wanted.
Any judge who accepts this case is not worthy of the title.