Contempt Charge Against BlueHippo

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal court to issue a contempt order against BlueHippo.

The FTC says the company violated a 2008 agreement it reached with the agency. 

The Baltimore-based company collected more than $15 million from financially strapped consumers with a credit problems by promising to finance a computer for them to purchase. 

But, the FTC says less than 1 percent of customers actually received the financing and the computer.  The federal agency charges that BlueHippo continued to deceive consumers even after the settlement order was entered by the court. 

The April 2008 settlement required the company to pay $3.5 million to compensate consumers and barred it from further deceiving customers.

The contempt motion against defendants BlueHippo Funding, LLC; BlueHippo Capital, LLC; and Joseph Rensin.