A Texas radio host has been sent to prison on three life sentences following a ponzi scheme which defrauded millions of dollars out of elderly listeners.
Along with the three life sentences, William Neil "Doc" Gallagher has also been handed a 30-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to forgery against the elderly and exploitation of the elderly in 2020 according to NBC News.
The radio host targeted elderly listeners after setting up a business called Gallagher Financial Group.
He advertised his company on Christian radio with the tagline, "See you in church on Sunday", while also promoting his investment business in books, such as "Jesus Christ, Money Master," and on Christian radio broadcasts.
Gallagher, who was known as the Money Doctor or "Doc", was sentenced after more than a dozen senior victims testified during a three-hour court hearing about losing anywhere from US$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 according to NBC News.
"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.
"He ruthlessly stole from his clients who trusted him for almost a decade. He amassed $32 million in loss to all of his clients and exploited many elder individuals.
"He worked his way around churches preying on people who believed he was a Christian," Varnell said in a statement.
The 80-year-old has been behind bars since March 20019 after his scheme lasted nearly 10 years.
A federal judge has found the losses to be more than an estimated US$23 million with $3.3 million recovered to the victims so far.
Gallagher promoted himself as an experienced investor with a Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University, offering clients a path to financial stability and a better life through "personal responsibility" and "less government," with "the help of God."
