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    Michael Hiltzik: A slap on wrist for high-interest lender signals there's no downside to deceiving borrowers

    by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times Jan 29, 2018 5 minutes

    LOS ANGELES - U.S. District Judge John F. Walter minced no words last August when he lowered the boom on CashCall and its high-interest-rate lending to desperate borrowers.

    The loan program CashCall operated with the protection of a South Dakota Indian tribe's supposed immunity from state usury laws was a "sham," the jurist ruled. The company's conduct was "deceptive," for the loan structure was "intentionally complicated" to prevent borrowers from discovering that the loans violated state and federal laws and were "void and uncollectable." Among the many sleazy aspects of these loans, they carried annual interest rates as high as 355 percent, vastly in excess of the legal limits in the borrowers' states.

    Yet, when it came time to penalize the Orange, Calif., lender and its owner, J. Paul Reddam, Walter turned strangely solicitous. On Jan. 19, the judge rejected a motion by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which had brought

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