Financial Fraud: Six Individuals And 14 Corporate Entities Convicted In Activities Related To An Alleged Mail Fraud Scheme

<h2>Nevada District Court Permanently Enjoins 20 Defendants Connected To A Multi-Million Dollar Mail Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>LAS VEGAS&comma; Nev&period; – A federal court in Las Vegas&comma; Nevada&comma; permanently enjoined six individuals and 14 corporate entities from activities related to an alleged mail fraud scheme&comma; the Department of Justice announced today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>In a complaint filed in February 2018&comma; the United States alleged that the defendants mailed thousands of fraudulent solicitations each week&period; The solicitations purported to inform recipients that they had won large cash or prize packages&comma; but needed to pay a fee to claim the winnings&period; The solicitations were styled as individual notices and stressed to recipients that they must return the requested fee quickly&period; According to the complaint&comma; some of the solicitations contained what appeared to be handwritten notes congratulating the recipients on their good fortune&comma; while others reassured recipients that the letters were not a scam&period; Individuals who sent the requested fees did not receive the expected prizes&period; The complaint alleged that the Las Vegas-based scheme defrauded consumers out of more than &dollar;10 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Consumers should be able to open their mail without encountering false promises of wealth&comma;” said Assistant Attorney General Joseph H&period; Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Department has and will continue to relentlessly pursue schemes like this one&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Some of these <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;how-to-defend-yourself-from-fraudulent-charitable-schemes&sol;amp&sol;">defendants constantly changed their schemes<&sol;a> in attempts to stay one step ahead of the law&comma;” said Delany DeLeon-Colon&comma; Inspector in Charge for the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These results make clear that we will peel back the layers&comma; find the individuals behind these schemes&comma; and hold them to account&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The complaint alleged that defendant Patti Kern orchestrated the activities of the other individual defendants&comma; all of whom live in the Las Vegas area&period; The complaint alleged that defendants Edgar Del Rio&comma; Sean O’Connor&comma; and Epifanio Castro printed the solicitations&semi; defendant Andrea Burrow opened and processed victim responses&semi; and defendant Stephen Fennell managed the scheme’s lists of recipients&period; The solicitations were mailed under a plethora of company names&comma; including 11 of the entities named as corporate defendants in the complaint&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The district court entered a default judgment against 11 defendants today and previously entered consent decrees against the nine other defendants named in the complaint&period; Those orders prohibit the defendants from mailing solicitations like those identified in the complaint&comma; as well as from engaging in activities related to such mailings&comma; including receiving&comma; handling&comma; or opening any victim mail responding to solicitations and using or benefiting from lists of victims who previously responded to solicitations&period; Additionally&comma; the orders authorize the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service to open mail that was detained by law enforcement and return payments to the scheme’s victims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The matter was handled by Trial Attorney Jacqueline Blaesi-Freed of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch&comma; in coordination with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada and the United States Postal Inspection Service&period; Additional information on the original enforcement actions and Department of Justice’s efforts to combat elder fraud is at&colon; https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;justice-department-coordinates-nationwide-elder-fraud-sweep-more-250-defendants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Elder FraudFinancial FraudMail Fraud