Yahoo News Tooting pensioners to pay £1.2m for preying on immigrant hospital workers in £4.2m loan shark scheme
A pair of pension age women who preyed on immigrant hospital workers in a multi-million pound loan shark scheme have been ordered to pay £1.2million by a court in South London. Luz Guerra Villar, 67, and Leticia Manipol, 71, both of Church Lane, Tooting, were given suspended jail sentences in 2021 after admitting illegal money lending and money laundering charges.
For 16 years they lent over £4.2 million to fellow Filipinos, many of whom worked at a London hospital, Kingston Crown Court heard. After avoiding prison three years ago, the case was back at court on Tuesday, April 16, when Judge Marcus Tregilgas-Davey heard the pair benefited to the tune of £1.2 million between them.
They were each given a confiscation order for £600,000, which must be paid within three months or they could face a jail term of up to six years. Back in 2021, Villar was sentenced to 18 months in custody, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work. Manipol was given a 15-month sentence, also suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work.
Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) officers raided the loan sharks' home in 2019, seizing cash and electronic devices, along with books and ledgers which had evidence of the multi-million pound scheme. Examinations of electronic devices revealed dozens of messages which referenced loans, including requests for loans, penalties for missing payments and apologies for non-payment.
The amount is the largest confiscation order given to a convicted loan shark in England since 2010, when an illegal lender in Manchester was also ordered to pay £1.2 million. The case was prosecuted by the England Illegal Money Lending Team, in partnership with the London Borough of Merton, Richmond upon Thames & Wandsworth Regulatory Services Partnership and the Metropolitan Police.
'Illegal money lending really doesn't pay'
Head of the IMLT, Tony Quigley said: "This is a fantastic result and once again shows that illegal money lending really doesn't pay. Illegal lenders are often living a life of luxury while the people who have borrowed from them are left to struggle. It is only right that these criminals are not only prosecuted but are made to pay back at least some of their ill-gotten gains.
"Action like this hits these people where it hurts, in the pocket. It is fitting that some of this money will go towards the IMLT's work to tackle illegal lending in England."
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