Patrice Runner, 57, bilked more than US$175 million from his victims.
In 2014, law enforcement officials began investigating letters sent to Americans by a woman named Maria Duval. At first, they thought the woman did not exist and that the scammer sending the letters was using a stock photo of a blond woman as an image included in the letters. It turned out Duval lived in the south of France and had made a career as a local psychic.
“Although the scheme’s letters frequently stated that a psychic had seen a personalized vision regarding the recipient of the letter, in fact, the scheme sent nearly identical form letters to tens of thousands of victims each week,” the United States Department of Justice said in its statement. “Runner and his co-conspirators obtained the names of elderly and vulnerable victims by renting and trading mailing lists with other mail fraud schemes.
Thanos and Lett worked for a direct mail operation based in Montreal for Runner. The records of their guilty pleas and the sentences they received were kept under seal until recently, apparently to allow Runner to have a fair trial before a jury.Article content
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