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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2015
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Million dollar fine for fraud
› Cover Story
Wharram found guilty of bilking investors in The Falls Resort BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
T
the high cost of
INSTANT CASH Preying on the marginalized by charging ‘loan shark’ rates puts payday outfits under the city’s microscope
BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
the time. He got a loan for $300, and that’s when the trouble started. As he remembers it, that $300 payable two weeks later came with a $30 charge, a rate that may seem reasonable to the desperate and those who aren’t well-versed in financial matters. But $30 on $300 over that time period is an annual interest rate of 260.7 per cent, which, in the payday loan world, is relatively low. Some payday loans charge fees that amount to as high as 1,200 per cent interest. Next pay period van den Bosch
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{ See WHARRAM, page A6 }
{ See INSTANT CASH, page A16 }
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arty van den Bosch was working a low-pay, entry level job 15 years ago. Like a lot of young men, he was terrible with his money. He was a bachelor. And he partied hard. One payday came along and the party went on a little too long, but he hadn’t yet paid his rent in full. He needed a loan, he didn’t have good credit at any bank, so he went to Money Mart, one of the many payday loan businesses around at
rolled the loan over for another $30 fee. Then again. And again. And again. “You keep slipping back just a little bit more and that fee starts to compound,” he said. “Then I thought, Money Mart lent me money, maybe Moneytree can lend me some more. The situation got worse and worse and this went on for two years.” Van den Bosch eventually had to declare bankruptcy.
he man accused of bilking investors in The Falls Resort in Chilliwack out of millions of dollar has been fined more than $1 million and permanently banned from the province’s capital markets by the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC). The BCSC panel found Rodney James Wharram, We s t K a r m a Ltd. and the Falls Capital Corp. committed fraud when they took $139,000 from Falls Capital, d e p o s i t e d i t Rodney Wharram with West Karma, and then used it for Wharram’s personal expenses. Wharram also took $130,000 from Deercrest Construction Fund Inc., deposited it with West Karma and then used it for his personal expenses. And both Wharram and Deercrest were found to have committed fraud when they took $265,000 directly from Deercrest’s bank accounts and used it for Wharram’s personal expenses.
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