Longtime Wilmington resident accused of being part of a scheme that charged over 700 percent interest on payday loans.

A prominent Wilmington lawyer has been indicted in a massive payday loan scheme that charged over 700 percent interest on loans by pretending the lenders were Native American tribes exempt from the law, according to prosecutors.

Federal authorities in Pennsylvania are claiming Wilmington resident Wheeler K. Neff, 67, and Pennsylvania resident Charles M. Hallinan, 75, conspired to violate the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, by using the “rent-a-tribe” model to avoid consumer protection laws that set caps on loan interest rates in Pennsylvania and other states, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2016/04/07/del-lawyer-indicted-native-american-payday-loan-scheme/82751628/