A Dallas radio host and author who called himself the “Money Doctor” and espoused financial advice interlaced with Christian platitudes is headed to prison after being unmasked as a fraud.
William Neil Gallagher, 80, was sentenced to three life prison terms Monday – an addition to a previous 25-year sentence – after pleading guilty to swindling elderly donors out of millions through what authorities referred to as a “classic Ponzi scheme.”
Gallagher promised his victims “retirement income you’ll never outlive” on the radio program he paid three stations to air.
“You’ve got to be sure you totally trust that financial planner you’re with,” Gallagher cheekily advised on one episode while he was busy stealing from his clients.
Lori Varnell, chief of the elder financial fraud team for the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, said Gallagher was “one of the worst offenders I have seen” in a written statement to the Associated Press. “He ruthlessly stole from his clients who trusted him for almost a decade.
“He amassed $32 million 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.”
Gallagher was arrested in 2019, his companies – Gallagher Financial Group and the W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D. Agency – shut down by the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC wrote that Gallagher had “no valid securities-industry credentials.”
Though he promised his investors “guaranteed, risk-free returns ranging from 5 to 8 percent per year,” Gallagher did not follow through, instead using the funds to pay for his radio program, his companies’ payroll, and other personal expenses.
In addition, his offices were in complete disarray at the time a search warrant was served in 2019, with boxes of documents piled everywhere.
“Over a decade of business records and unopened mail are scattered and stacked randomly throughout the office,” read the official report of the search.
While authorities have seized property and other assets and plan to return some of the money Gallagher stole, it’s unlikely his victims will be made whole again. At the time of his arrest, Gallagher’s bank accounts were home to less than $1 million.
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