A motel owner from a remote Western Australian town has been fined $9000 for illegally lending money to Aboriginal people at interest rates of up to 50 per cent.
Salvatore Tomarchio, from Laverton, appeared in the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court today.
He was found guilty of providing credit while not being the holder of a credit providers' licence.
The court heard Mr Tomarchio took his clients' bank cards and PINs and would use them to recoup the high interest rates he charged.
Magistrate Greg Benn fined him $9000 and ordered him to pay $24,947 in court costs.
The maximum penalty for the charge in $10,000.
