Loan sharks don’t get a lot of mention these days so I was drawn to this story about such a loan shark who has been sentenced to five years in prison for various offences including blackmailing and illegal money lending.
The ‘ruthless individual’ charged up to 2,437 per cent interest to poor families living on Manchester’s housing estates. He would enforce payment with the use of a gang of heavies.
Apparently this man made £2.9million from his business in the five years between October 2003 when he started and his arrest in October last year. Upon his arrest he claimed to be owed £800,000 split between 900 clients.
He was convicted on two counts of blackmail and was also found guilty of one count of acquiring criminal property, two counts of concealing, disguising, converting or transferring criminal property, and two counts of unlawfully failing to give notice of a change in circumstances.
“It’s clear to me you are a ruthless individual who has displayed a high degree of criminal sophistication,” said Judge Adrian Smith.
0 comments so far
There are no comments for this post yet. Why not be the first by filling out the form below.