A federal judge in Greenville has ordered California businessman Scott Kohn to pay $501 million in a civil case involving the buying and selling of military veterans' benefits, an illegal practice illuminated by an investigation of The Greenville News. Kohn and a web of his affiliated companies must pay $436 million in restitution to thousands of veterans and other pensioners across the nation, according to an order that U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks signed last month. Kohn and his companies also are required to pay $65 million in penalties to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a 2018 lawsuit filed in California and later moved to South Carolina, the bureau accused Kohn of preying on financially struggling veterans by deceiving them about exorbitant interest rates associated with cash advances. The veterans agreed to divert money from their monthly disability or pension incomes to repay the advances.