ALBANY, New York AP – New York’s attorney general said Tuesday he is trying to shut down a debt collector whose employees used outrageous tactics in several states, such as threatening to sexually attack one debtor’s daughter, berating people as drunks and deadbeats, and bullying others with threats of arrest.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the lawsuit against the Benning-Smith Group for what he claims are more than 1,000 violations of state and federal law in New York alone. He said his staff has also spoken to people from Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas who claim they were victims.