Related Federal Cases
Mail Fraud Scheme Busted
Eight individuals and entities have been permanently shut down for operating an alleged international multi-million dollar mail-fraud scheme in the name of alleged psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a consent decree that barred the defendants from using the U.S. mail to distribute advertisements, solicitations, or promotional materials on behalf of any psychics, clairvoyants, or astrologers.
The scheme, which victimized more than one million Americans, involved sending letters purporting to be written by psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin to American consumers through the U.S. mail. The letters claimed that the psychics had a specific, personalized vision or psychic reading revealing that the recipient had the opportunity to achieve great wealth, including claims of winning millions in the lottery.
The solicitations urged victims to purchase various products and services in order to ensure that the foreseen good fortune came to pass. In reality, the solicitations were identical, mass produced form letters sent to tens of thousands of recipients throughout the United States every month.
Many of the customers who received the solicitations were vulnerable victims, including the desperate, elderly, and infirm. The United States alleges that the fraud scheme victimized more than one million Americans, who sent the defendants payments totaling more than $180 million.
“To line their own pockets, the defendants preyed upon the superstition and desperation of millions of vulnerable Americans,” said United States Attorney Robert L. Capers. “We will use every means at our disposal to protect our citizens from fraudulent schemes like this that target the lonely, the ill, and the elderly.”
The defendants include Canadian company 9097-9394 Québec Inc. dba Infogest Direct Marketing (Infogest), Infogest employees Mary Thanos, Daniel Sousse and Philip Lett, Hong Kong corporation Destiny Research Center Ltd., Destiny Research Center President Martin Dettling, Patrick Guerin of France, and Maria Duval of France.
The United States’ case is being handled by John Vagelatos, Chief of Affirmative Civil Enforcement for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York, and Ann.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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