Christian radio host sentenced to three life sentences for Ponzi scheme bilking millions from elderl

[Jilly_in_VA]

Christian radio host sentenced to three life sentences for Ponzi scheme bilking millions from elderly listeners

A Texas radio host was sentenced to three life prison sentences Monday for a Ponzi scheme in which he bilked elderly listeners out of millions of dollars.

William Neil “Doc” Gallagher also got a 30-year prison sentence from state District Judge Elizabeth Beach for his August guilty pleas. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

The sentencing came after more than a dozen senior victims testified during a three-hour court hearing about losing anywhere from $50,000 to $600,000 invested in the Gallagher Financial Group. Some said they had to sell their homes, borrow money from their children or take part-time jobs to supplement their Social Security benefits.

“Doc Gallagher is one of the worst offenders I have seen,” said Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud team.

Gallagher, 80, and his Gallagher Financial Group advertised on Christian radio with the tagline, “See you in church on Sunday.” He promoted his investment business in books, such as “Jesus Christ, Money Master,” and on Christian radio broadcasts.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christian-radio-host-sentenced-three-life-sentences-ponzi-scheme-bilki-rcna4335
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Matthew 7:…19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, by their fruit you will recognize them

[DFW]

1. Just ONE of them?

Law Enforcement IS aware that there are a few (hundred) more of them out there.

Aren't they?

Right, guys? You DO know about this, don't you?

HELLO?

[Silent3]

3. "Christian radio host" is practically a synonym for con artist

There might be a few sincere ones out there, and half of those would be sincerely crazy.

[CurtEastPoint]

8. Voila

[Silent3]

2. I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone bilked by "Jesus Christ, Money Master"

The bilker, of course, is scum, and I can feel sorry for some people he bilked who were sliding into senility, but I also imagine there were a few marks who were practically begging to be fleeced.

[PoliticAverse]

14. JC did teach those moneychangers at the temple a lesson or two. n/t

[ZonkerHarris]

4. The power of Christ compels you.....to write me a big check.

[lagomorph777]

5. That's illegal now?

I thought any con was legal, as long as you put Jesus in the name?

[lindysalsagal]

6. And if we insisted on public inspection of church financial books, we'd be able to catch this stuff

But they get privileges we blasphemers don't.

[Jilly_in_VA]

9. The church secretary

at the biggest Baptist church where I used to live (the one we called "Fort God" at my church) was caught and arrested after she embezzled one million dollars from her church. She supposedly did it because her son, who was a drug addict, pushed her into it. She got off with a basic hand slap because she cried in court and because she apologized and because "she was such a good Christian". Yeah right.

And aside from the fact that it took until someone noticed $!M was missing, any church that has that much money has too damn much money.

[rsdsharp]

7. It's too bad the sentences aren't consecutive,

but that might be a little tough on his cellmate(s).

[Torchlight]

10. Greed may be the second most fundamentally flawed aspect of post-enlightenment humans.

The most flawed aspect I think though, is our desire to blindly justify it as a actual virtue.

[lagomorph777]

11. I think of the Enlightenment as the time when people began to drift away from worshipping spirits.

So this crowd haven't yet experienced it.

[Torchlight]

12. I think of it as a time when humans began to separate ideas into schools of thought.

Not so much denying past traditions, but more an attempt to categorize them into disciplines; the undermining of social authorities being a symptom of that instead of the actual cause or goal.

[Tomconroy]

13. I think the original Ponzi only got six months.