SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that a Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected an attempt by PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company and subsidiaries of the Progressive Corporation to stop his office’s investigation of potential race discrimination against Washington drivers. The companies both use consumer credit histories — or “credit-based insurance scores” derived from a consumer’s credit history — to decide whether to sell, and at what price to sell, their auto insurance products, despite evidence that this practice disproportionately harms people of color.

SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge has ordered two companies and their owners to pay more than $24.8 million for their unlawful conduct targeting small business owners. The judge determined that both companies’ “entire business model was based upon deceiving small business owners.”

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that former Spokane County worker Rhonda Sue Ackerman has pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree theft. Ackerman was employed as a liability claims technician and stole $1.38 million over the course of a decade from Spokane County by filing fake claims.

OLYMPIA — A King County Superior Court judge today issued the maximum penalty of $24.6 million against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s campaign finance transparency lawsuit. Ferguson had requested the maximum penalty be imposed.