Owner of Advance Funding Partners/Same Day Funding Maintained a Policy of Refusing to Lend to Prospective Clients of Certain Races and Ethnicities

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) announced today that DCR has issued a Finding of Probable Cause alleging that Advance Funding Partners/Same Day Funding (Advance Funding), a New Jersey business that provides cash advances and loans to borrowers, violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by engaging in unlawful lending discrimination and employment discrimination.

In the Finding of Probable Cause announced today, DCR found that Advance Funding maintained a policy of refusing to lend to prospective clients based on race, national origin, and nationality. DCR’s investigation found that Advance Funding’s owner, Joseph Jurasic, instructed sales staff not to do business with “Chinese, African, and Spanish” prospective clients. Audio recordings sent to employees by Jurasic expressly told them “no Chinese, no Africans, no Spanish,” and told them not to “waste your time with the Chinese, with the Africans, and Spanish.” Other Advance Funding employees likewise instructed employees not to do business with these racial or ethnic groups.

The Finding of Probable Cause also alleges that Advance Funding engaged in unlawful retaliation against an employee who reported Advance Funding’s conduct to DCR. In February 2023, a then-employee of the company filed a verified complaint with DCR, alleging that Advance Funding had committed acts of unlawful discrimination. But shortly after the complaint was filed with DCR, Jurasic allegedly called the employee and left a vulgar voice message threatening him with a defamation lawsuit. After receiving this message and interpreting it as a threat, the employee resigned.

In addition, DCR’s investigation also found that Advance Funding maintained a hostile work environment. Advance Funding employees, including Jurasic, repeatedly sent racist and offensive memes, gifs, and audio messages to Advance Funding employees through a WhatsApp chat group. And as noted, at least one employee was subject to severe harassment by Jurasic based on his filing of a discrimination complaint with DCR, resulting in a hostile environment that ultimately prompted him to resign.

“No one should ever be denied a loan based on their race or national origin.  No one should ever be subject to retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint. And no one should ever be subject to a hostile work environment based on race or national origin,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The Finding of Probable Cause issued by DCR today should be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks that discrimination or hate are a thing of the past in our state.  We will send the message as often as we need to until everyone understands: if you violate our civil rights laws, we will hold you accountable.”

The investigation arose after a then-employee of Advance Funding, which has operated a place of business in Ocean, New Jersey, filed a verified complaint with DCR. After filing the complaint, the employee believed that Jurasic, the owner of Advance Funding, had threatened him, so the employee withdrew his complaint. After the employee’s withdrawal, the investigation continued, with Sundeep Iyer, Director of DCR, substituting for the employee as the Complainant in the matter.  Under the LAD, the Director may decide to continue an investigation after the withdrawal of the complaint where the Director determines that doing so is in the public interest.

During its investigation, DCR reviewed screenshots and audio messages from an employee group chat on WhatsApp.  In the group chat, Jurasic sent an audio message to other employees stating: “I tell you, no Chinese, no Africans, no Spanish…. Don’t waste your time on these races. Do not waste your time with the Chinese, with the Africans, and Spanish.”  In another message, a telephone number belonging to Victor Milano — an agent of the business — sent a message to the group stating “[s]tay away from the Chinese, African and ….” Another screenshot showed Milano asking Jurasic if a potential client was a member of “one of the 3 groups you don’t like.”  And another showed Milano saying, “[Jurasic] always says no Spanish, no Chinese and no ….”

that he would not lend to other individuals or groups of individuals based on race, national origin, or nationality. He told DCR, for instance, that he would not lend money to Armenians; that he did not generally loan money to non-U.S. citizens; and that he generally would not lend to clients who did not speak English well. DCR found that that these exclusions also supported a reasonable ground of suspicion that Advance Funding had discriminated based on race, national origin, and nationality.

During the investigation, DCR issued a subpoena requesting that Advance Funding provide certain information regarding loan applicants who had been denied loans by Advance Funding. In response to the subpoena, however, Jurasic told DCR that Advance Funding is no longer in operation as of September 2024 and that all of Advance Funding’s data had been destroyed —

The evidence DCR reviewed during its investigation supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that Advance Funding violated the LAD by:

• Denying services based on race, national origin, and nationality;
• Retaliating against a former employee for filing a discrimination complaint with DCR;
• Constructively discharging a former employee by knowingly permitting the conditions of his employment to become so intolerable that a reasonable person subject to them would resign; and
• Maintaining a hostile work environment.

In addition, the evidence supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that Advance Funding’s owner, Joseph Jurasic, may be held personally liable under the LAD for aiding and abetting Advance Funding’s violations of the LAD; for retaliating against the former employee who filed a discrimination complaint with DCR; and for interfering with employees’ right to a workplace free from discrimination.

Finally, the Finding of Probable Cause concluded that the evidence supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that Victor Milano may be held personally liable for aiding and abetting Advance Funding’s denial of services and its maintenance of a hostile work environment.

The issuance of a Finding of Probable Cause shows that DCR has concluded its preliminary investigation and determined sufficient evidence exists to support a reasonable suspicion that the LAD has been violated.  A Finding of Probable Cause is not a final adjudication on the merits of a case.  Once DCR issues a Finding of Probable Cause, the case will go to conciliation, where the parties will have the opportunity to negotiate a voluntary resolution.  If no voluntary resolution is reached, DCR will appoint a Deputy Attorney General to prosecute the case either in the Office of Administrative Law or in court.

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The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights enforces the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, and the Fair Chance in Housing Act, and works to prevent, eliminate, and remedy discrimination and bias-based harassment in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation throughout New Jersey.

To find out more information or to file a complaint, go to www.njcivilrights.gov.

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