Colorado AG Loses Payday Loan Battle

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Businesses run by Indian tribes don’t have to play by the same rules other businesses do. That’s because tribes have sovereignty. So state laws don’t apply. A case Colorado attorney general John Suthers has been fighting illustrates just how seriously courts take that sovereignty. It involves two payday loan companies. Suthers went after them for making illegal loans and taking advantage of customers. But it appears sovereignty makes the lenders untouchable. Ryan Warner talks with reporter David Heath, of the Center for Public Integrity, who's been following the case. You can see Heath's investigative report here.

[Miami Nation Enterprises in Miami, Oklahoma.]

[Photo: David Heath]