Main Line Payday Lender Found Guilty Of Racketeering, Fraud
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A jury reached a verdict Monday in the federal fraud case of a payday loan shark based along the Main Line.
A jury has convicted 76-year-old Charles Hallinan of racketeering, fraud and money laundering for a payday loan scheme.
The Villanova resident owned and operated several businesses which would lend cash to people at a very high interest rate, with their next paycheck going back to the lender, an illegal practice in Pennsylvania and several other states.
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The government says Hallinan and his co-defendant, 69-year-old Wheeler Neff, conspired to dodge authorities by paying off three Native American Indian tribes to pretend they were the lenders.
Hallinan and Neff collected nearly $700 million and defrauded 1,400 people.
Neff was also found guilty on several similar charges.
Both are set to be sentenced in April and could face more than a decade in prison.
