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FTC Settles With Dennise Merdjanian Over Student Loan Scam for $45.9 Million
The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Dennise Merdjanian on July 21, 2026. The agreement bans her from the debt relief and telemarketing industries for life and imposes a $45.9 million judgment.
Jul 21, 1:30 PM·1m read1 source
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Dennise Merdjanian, who operated Nevada-based Superior Servicing, faces a permanent bar from the debt relief and telemarketing industries under a July 21, 2026 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that also imposes a judgment exceeding $45.9 million after accusations she impersonated the Department of Education to extract roughly $46 million from student loan borrowers.
The amount will be partially suspended because of her inability to pay, though the full judgment becomes due if she is later found to have misrepresented her finances.
The FTC first sued Superior Servicing and Merdjanian in November 2024. A federal court froze the defendants' assets and temporarily halted operations. An amended complaint filed in early 2025 added Eric Caldwell and David Hernandez as co-defendants.
In September 2025 the U.S. District Court in Nevada permanently banned Caldwell and Hernandez from the debt relief industry. Merdjanian's settlement and a default order against the corporate defendants close the remaining litigation.
@Forbes reported that 9.5 million federal student loan borrowers, or roughly one in five, were in default as of July 2026. That figure rose from 5.3 million after the pandemic-era payment pause expired in late 2024.
