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Two
Canadians Sentenced in International Telemarketing Fraud Face
Jail Time
May 30, 2005 --
(Concord,
NH.) – Two Canadians from Montreal were sentenced to prison
terms in a New Hampshire court Wednesday after they pleaded
guilty to
defrauding elderly widows and widowers in an international
telemarketing scheme.
David Johnson was sentenced to more than 10 years, and Nelson
Azevedo was sentenced to more than five years. They were ordered
to make $6.4 million US in restitution and will be on three
years' probation after they leave prison.
They were among 15 Canadians indicted in 2002 after an FBI
and Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation revealed the
group defrauded about 80 victims by telling them they had
won large lottery prizes but had to prepay Canadian taxes
and fees to get the cash, lawyer Tom Colantuono said.
Seven victims from California, Mississippi, Wisconsin, New
Hampshire, Kentucky and South Dakota appeared at the sentencing
and described the effect the fraud had on their lives.
Colantuono said the seven were a representative group of the
victims who
lost more than $8 million.
Colantuono said the Canadians operated from Montreal and Vancouver.
He said the victims were told to send $10,000 in cashiers
cheques to various Montreal addresses to get their $200,000
prizes. Once the cheques arrived, the victims were telephone
again and told their winnings had
increased to $2 million and they had to send an extra $20,000
to get the higher prizes.
The cashiers cheques, Colantuono said, were exchanged for
Canadian dollars and were laundered through Israeli and Jordanian
Banks.
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