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Pensioners ordered to pay £1.2m for preying on immigrant hospital workers in £4.2m profiteering scheme

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A south London court has ordered a pair of pension-age women who preyed on immigrant hospital workers in a multi-million pound profiteering scheme to pay £1.2 million. Luz Guerra Villar, 67, and Leticia Manipol, 71, both of Church Lane, Tooting, were given suspended prison sentences in 2021 after admitting charges of illegal money lending and money laundering.

Over 16 years they lent more than £4.2 million to fellow Filipinos, many of whom worked in a London hospital, Kingston Crown Court heard. After avoiding jail three years ago, the case returned to court on Tuesday, April 16, when Judge Marcus Tregilgas-Davey heard that the pair had achieved a combined benefit of £1.2 million.

They were each given a £600,000 confiscation order, which had to be paid within three months or face a prison sentence of up to six years. In 2021, Villar was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work. Manipol was given a 15-month prison sentence, also suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work.

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Officers from the Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) raided the loan sharks’ home in 2019 and seized cash and electronic devices, along with books and ledgers containing evidence of the multi-million pound scheme. Examination of electronic devices revealed dozens of messages referencing loans, including loan requests, fines for missing payments and apologies for non-payment.

The sum is the largest confiscation order given to a convicted loan shark in England since 2010, when an illegal lender in Manchester was also ordered to pay £1.2 million. The case was prosecuted by the UK Illegal Money Lending Team, in collaboration with the London Borough of Merton, Richmond upon Thames & Wandsworth Regulatory Services Partnership and the Metropolitan Police.

‘Borrowing money illegally really doesn’t pay off’

Tony Quigley, head of the IMLT, said: “This is a fantastic result and shows once again that illegal lending really doesn’t pay. Illegal lenders often live the lives of luxury while the people who borrowed from them struggle. It is only right that these criminals are not only prosecuted, but also have to repay at least part of their ill-gotten gains.

“Such action hits these people where it hurts: in the pockets. It is appropriate that some of this money goes to the IMLT’s work to tackle illegal lending in England.”

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