Autauga County Circuit Judge Ben Fuller has permanently shut down the Montgomery debt restructuring firms, Allegro Law LLC and Allegro Financial Services LLC, saying they violated the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and operated without a license.

The state Attorney General’s Office and the Alabama Securities Commission filed a complaint seven months ago against Keith Anderson Nelms and his Prattville-based firms.

In a statement Wednesday Attorney General Troy King said the shutdown ended “one of the largest debt settlement schemes in the nation”, involving a seizure of $12 million of the firms’ assets, which could be returned to the 15,000 Allegro customers nationwide.

  

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The state said Nelms was not licensed to practice law outside of Alabama. However, clients came from all 50 states. The complaint also stated Nelms and his firm were advertising as a law firm, but were referring cases to a third party, Americorp, which is not a law firm.