Lawyer who helped top payday lenders prey on financially desperate is sentenced to 8 years in prison

[TexasTowelie]

PHILADELPHIA -- The lawyer behind some of the nation’s top payday lenders was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Friday after more than a decade spent enabling men who prosecutors say preyed on the financially desperate to fuel a multibillion-dollar industry.

Wheeler K. Neff, 69, of Wilmington, Del., devised the legal framework behind business tactics that enabled his clients to dodge government regulatory efforts for years. He forged relationships with American Indian tribes that many payday lenders used to hide their involvement in issuing low-dollar, high-interest loans outlawed in many states.

But flanked in a Philadelphia courtroom Friday by a cadre of family members, neighbors, country club friends, and fellow church congregants, Neff insisted that he’d believed at the time that everything he was doing was legal.

“I now realize how people can be crushed under the weight of payday loans,” he told U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno. “However, it was never my intention to harm anyone.”

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/wheeler-neff-charles-hallinan-lawyer-payday-lender-sentenced-to-8-years-in-racketeering-case-20180525.html

[gratuitous]

1. "I now realize how people can be crushed"

Two words to say to that: Bull. Shit.

Crushing people is the payday loan's business model. Destroying people, impoverishing them, and lining the pockets of the wealthy is how the whole thing works. Eight years, Mr. Neff? You should be on your knees thanking Beelzebub or whatever deity you believe in for such a light sentence. In my courtroom, you'd have every last dime confiscated, and spend the rest of your natural life making little ones out of big ones while listening to the stories of the people whose lives you destroyed.

[ansible]

2. Remember the Western Sky ads?

Pure evil

[KentuckyWoman]

3. They still exist

Now they rent you money in some states. For $20 a week per $100.
There is a place in South metro Atlanta near my sister's old place. Sign said lowest rental rate in Georgia. Been a few years since I've down that way though.

[SunSeeker]

4. Good. nt

[Demovictory9]

5. he knew. He just didn't care

[iluvtennis]

6. Greedy bastard gets his Karma. What goes around comes around

[nitpicker]

7. Link to statement from the US attorney

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/statement-united-states-attorney-william-m-mcswain-regarding-sentencing-wheeler-neff-8

[WhiteTara]

8. Boohoo.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. He Didn't Know High Interest Loans Could Lead to Crushing Debt?

How could he possibly not know that? Of course, he knew. He didn't care. As long as he really believed it was legal, he couldn't have cared less about the "crushing" debt on others.

[denverbill]

10. When i started reading the headline I expected it to be that he was appointed to head the CFPB. nt

[disillusioned73]

11. They should ALL be rounded up & charged..

including congressional reps that enabled this perverse activity for years..

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread TexasTowelie

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

13. Loan Shark!

Check out the fine print for a payday loan. "The APR on a typical $10,000 loan is 89.86%....." On a $10,000 loan with an 84 month term at $743/month you pay back over $62,000. From people who you already know are in a precarious financial situation. This is one step above trying to figure out how to secure the loan with the value of your organs on the black market. Maybe we can sell Mr. Neff's kidneys to cover the costs of his incarceration?