Ex-HSBC Exec Pleads Guilty in Telemarketing Fraud

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

It was all going to be so worth it, helping a Canadian telemarketing operation to defraud about 100,000 U.S. residents out of about $30 million. Then, of course, the law caught up with poor little Raymond Payne, a 35-year-old former HSBC Bank USA vice president, and in a heartbeat it all sort of seriously became not worth it.

Payne pleaded guilty on Friday in Manhattan federal court to a conspiracy charge over his role in the fraud. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence and maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the illicit gains.

Unlike a completely different HSBC lawsuit, where the bank was alleged to being complicit in defrauding elderly folks, according to a Reuters story, this fraud is all about credit cards. Or, rather, charging folks $249-$299 for a credit card and then not giving them the, you know, credit card. Folks did, however, receive manuals on repairing credit. Which is funny only if you?re not one of the unfortunates left $300 bucks poorer with no credit card to show for it.