A Las Vegas resident has been sentenced to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution after pleading guilty to running prize promotion scams that defrauded thousands of victims, many of whom were elderly, out of more than $20 million, according to the Department of Justice.
The dollar amount reflects what consumers lost from one of his schemes, the department said. The sentence handed down to Glen Burke, 58, on March 12 also includes three years of supervised release.
Burke had pleaded guilty in December to criminal contempt of court and conspiracy charges in relation to two predatory schemes that Burke had conducted despite a 1998 court order obtained by the Federal Trade Commission permanently banning him from telemarketing and making misrepresentations to consumers, according to the Justice Department.
A co-defendant, Michael Rossi, 52, also of Las Vegas, also pleaded guilty in connection with one of Burke’s schemes. Rossi is scheduled to be sentenced June 25.
Burke and Ross also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for running a fraudulent telemarketing operation.
“This case exemplifies the department’s commitment to halt schemes that target seniors, which the attorney general announced in a historic elder fraud sweep a few weeks ago,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are sending a clear message: Perpetrators of telemarketing fraud will be prosecuted and law enforcement will not stop until fraudulent mass mailing practices are halted.”
