By alley - Oct 3, 2016, 3:35 PM ET

INDUSTRY: Tucker ordered to pay $1.2 billion fine

Former sportscar driver and champion Scott Tucker received unpleasant news on Friday when a Nevada U.S. District Court judge ruled the payday lending magnate must pay a fine of $1.266 billion to the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive business practices that defrauded as many as 4.5 million customers.

As reported by Tucker's home state

Kansas City Star

newspaper, Judge Gloria Navarro's wrote in her findings "Here, Scott Tucker did not participate in an isolated, discrete incident of deceptive lending, but engaged in sustained and continuous conduct that perpetuated the deceptive lending since at least 2008."

The ruling follows a separate federal, criminal indictment in February by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where all of Tucker's assets were frozen. In addition to a long list of bank accounts bearing the names of multiple lending companies and offshoots of his Level 5 Racing team, a number of Tucker's expensive road and racing cars, including Ferrari 599s, Ferrari 458 Challenges, a Porsche Carrera GT, Porsche Panamera, and Learjet 60 were seized.

In June, without access to his funds, the Kansas City Star reported Tucker's former attorneys were unable to provide legal services because "Were he to pay for private counsel, he would be violating a court order."

Motions were filed asking the court to release funds to allow Tucker to pay his attorneys, which led to more problems according to the Star: "A federal regulator last year asked a judge to freeze Tucker's assets. In the weeks and months that followed, recently unsealed documents show, Tucker wired millions of dollars to attorneys, bought a new Ferrari and spent thousands on private jets."

The New York federal court ordered Tucker's Learjet to be sold in August as a small portion of the profits being sought from the lending companies owned by Tucker and his associates.

In September, Navarro ruled against a request by Tucker to continue living on a stipend of $8000 per month that was set to expire at the end of August. The FTC found Tucker "continued their profligate lifestyle including spa, steakhouse, country club and liquor purchases" with the monthly allowance during the asset freeze.

Navarro's ruling on Friday is said to be the largest fine levied against a payday loan scheme; Tucker was also barred from future involvement in the industry. Tucker, who has maintained his innocence, now has the separate criminal trial in New York to worry about in April of 2017.

Financial losses aside, and with the possibility of incarceration to consider once next year's trial begins, we haven't heard the last from the businessman-turned-racer.