Super Loan Shark

Hong Kong has long been known for the entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens.

But there's a fine line between that and stone cold greed, and a 55-year-old woman not only crossed the line, she ventured far into unexplored territory.

She became a super loan shark. Not content with milking the financially troubled at say, 100 or 200% interest (the legal threshold is 60%), she charged borrowers an effective annual rate of 3,000 percent.

... mostly targeted dole recipients by lending them a few hundred dollars on each occasion. In one case, a man who had borrowed HK$300 ... was charged HK$200 interest after a week.

When caught and hauled into court, she claimed that "she did it out of goodwill, to ease the financial hardship of her borrowers."

The judge rejected her defence and sent her to jail.

Call it a sentence of goodwill, to ease the financial hardship of her borrowers.

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