We don't doubt Chattanooga businessman Carey V. Brown's sincerity when he stood before the heads of six Chattanooga nonprofits in Waterhouse Pavilion in March 2012 and said he would give away $1 billion by the time he retired, but we do stand in awe of his hubris.
While he was pledging support to the nonprofits, which serve the homeless, educate students, assist wayward teens and expand Bible ministry, among other things, he was knowingly breaking state laws by charging excessively high interest rates for payday loans.
So while we believe he has a heart for helping the less fortunate, as his investments of time and money have shown, another group of less fortunate people - those in such bad financial straits they had to tide themselves over with a high-interest loan - were suffering.
Brown, a former used car salesman who created a technology-driven payday lending syndicate, pleaded guilty in New York earlier this week to breaking the law by charging clients interest rates well in excess of the state's 25 percent annual percentage rate cap.
In addition to being sentenced to 250 hours of community service and three years of probation, he already has forfeited $3 million and will pay an additional $6 million in forfeiture to victims.
Brown's pledge of $1 billion in largesse came a few months after a Times Free Press investigation showed he was making loans that sometimes carried an annual interest rate of more than 1,000 percent and would have been illegal in Tennessee had state officials attempted to take action.
"We're investing," the payday king told the nonprofits in 2012, "for eternal rewards."
For Brown, those rewards must wait, but his punishment on Earth is now set.