Christian radio host gets three life sentences for cheating elderly listeners in $30m Ponzi scheme

More than a dozen senior victims tell the Texas court how William Neil ‘Doc’ Gallagher’s scheme left them broke, depressed and unable to trust people

(Dallas County Sheriff’s Department)

A Christian radio host has been slapped with three life sentences after he cheated elderly listeners out of millions in a long-running Ponzi scheme.

William Neil “Doc” Gallagher received the hefty sentence on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, along with a 30-year sentence stemming from his August guilty pleas on six charges for defrauding investors. He will serve the sentences concurrently.

Over the course of a three-hour hearing, more than a dozen senior victims testified about how they lost between $50,000 and $600,000 by investing in the defendant’s Gallagher Financial Group between 2013 and 2019.

The victims described how they were forced to sell their homes, borrow money from their children and take part-time employment as a result of Gallagher’s scheme, which left them depressed and unable to trust people.

“I don’t trust anybody anymore, except for God and my family,” victim Susan Pippi told the court, according to CBSDFW.

Another victim, Judy Dewitt, testified: “I’m afraid my money is going to run out. It’s a very scary thing.”

Gallagher, who dubbed himself the “Money Doctor,” advertised his investment business on Christian radio with the tag line “See you in church on Sunday” for years after his registration with the Texas Securities Commissioner lapsed in 2008, prosecutors said.

He also promoted the business on broadcasts, in books such as Jesus Christ, Money Master, and in “educational” investing seminars.

Gallagher was arrested in 2019 and pleaded guilty in August 2021 to six charges. Three of the charges resulted in life sentences: securing the execution of a document by deception for an amount greater than $200,000, theft of property more than $300,000 and misapplication of fiduciary property or property of financial institution of more than $300,000.

He was sentenced to 10 years each on the other three charges: one for forgery against the elderly and two for exploitation of the elderly.

Gallagher was already serving a 25-year sentence after pleading guilty to similar charges in Dallas County in 2020.

“Doc Gallagher is one of the worst offenders I have seen,” Lori Varnell, chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud unit, said after Monday’s sentencing.

“He ruthlessly stole from his clients who trusted him for almost a decade. He amassed $32m in loss to all of his clients and exploited many elder individuals. He worked his way around churches preying on people who believed he was a Christian.”