CALGARY (CP) - A Calgary pawnbroker has been fined and ordered to pay restitution after he charged up to 207,000 per cent interest on loans.
Aly Saad Marsy, 58, was fined $7,500 in Calgary provincial court for what the judge called a deplorable and oppressive abuse of the law.
In one case, a couple living on a disability pension pawned a collection of jewelry to make ends meet while the husband underwent cancer treatments.
They paid $6,000 in interest over six months on a $2,000 loan.
In the other case, a man put his car up for collateral to obtain a $450 loan to retain a lawyer in a custody battle over his preschool daughter.
Marsy's lawyer argued that his client was only charging the going rate and was being made a "whipping boy" for the entire pawnbroking industry.
Aly Saad Marsy, 58, was fined $7,500 in Calgary provincial court for what the judge called a deplorable and oppressive abuse of the law.
In one case, a couple living on a disability pension pawned a collection of jewelry to make ends meet while the husband underwent cancer treatments.
They paid $6,000 in interest over six months on a $2,000 loan.
In the other case, a man put his car up for collateral to obtain a $450 loan to retain a lawyer in a custody battle over his preschool daughter.
Marsy's lawyer argued that his client was only charging the going rate and was being made a "whipping boy" for the entire pawnbroking industry.
