The former CEO of Boston Sports Clubs will have to pay up nearly $4 million after a judge ruled he violated the law by charging customers while the gym was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.All BSC locations were closed from mid-March 2020 through July 2020.NewsCenter 5’s Ben Simmoneau was the first to report that Boston Sports Clubs continued to charge members in April 2020. Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Helene Kazanjian ruled this week that Patrick Walsh, the former head of the business, broke consumer protection laws.State law dictates that customers have a right to cancel a health club contract when the business “substantially changes the operation of the health club or location.” The indefinite closure during the pandemic was found to qualify.”After years of litigation and a multiweek trial, I am incredibly proud of my team who fought tirelessly to secure meaningful relief for Massachusetts consumers who were unfairly charged for services they could not use during the global pandemic,” Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement.Campbell said her office will determine how to return the restitution to impacted customers once Walsh pays. Town Sports International LLC, which did business as Boston Sports Club, was also named in the case but was left out of the court’s judgment because it had filed for bankruptcy, according to the announcement.

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