CHICAGO—A Canadian man who cooperated with U.S. law enforcement and voluntarily traveled from 
the Philippines to face federal prosecution was sentenced to seven years in prison for swindling 168 elderly victims nationwide of about $8 million in a telemarketing fraud scheme, federal law enforcement officials announced Tuesday.
The defendant, Austin Etches, 56, “was up to his eyeballs” in the “heinous” crime, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said during the sentence on Friday.
Etches, who has remained in federal custody since he voluntarily traveled to the United States in June 2013, was also ordered to pay restitution totaling approximately $8 million, officials said.
Etches, who last resided in Toronto before Manila, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in June and cooperated in the investigation, which has resulted in pending charges against two alleged co-schemers, who are believed to be outside the United States, authorities stated.
Citing letters to the judge from widows and retirees who were among the victims, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Cannon argued in a sentencing memo, “Many of the victims were at the most vulnerable point of their lives, between their advanced ages, the death of their spouses, and their or their spouse’s health issues, not to mention their need for income,” officials said.
According to court documents, Etches and two co-schemers operated a series of companies through telemarketing call centers located in and around Manila.
Between 2008 and 2012, officials said they raised more than $8 million by fraudulently selling phony certificates of deposit and non-existent real estate investments to American senior citizens.
They made false statements about the risks of the investments, the expected and actual rates of return, and the ways in which investors’ funds would be used.
They provided investors with fraudulent account statements purporting to show that investments had increased in value, knowing that they had misappropriated the funds and the investments were worthless.
One elderly victim attended Etches’ sentencing with her son, who spoke on her behalf, authorities said.
He noted that his mother was an emigrant from Yugoslavia, and his parents had worked their entire lives in factory jobs. They managed to save $161,000, all of which Etches and others stole.
The son described how the schemers hounded his mother with repeated phone calls, and they stopped calling her only when her son intervened, officials said.
In late 2013, related federal fraud charges were filed in Chicago against Jonathan Papa, 42, who is believed to be in the Philippines, and Methsiri Palliyaguru, 56, who was formerly in the Philippines and is now believed to be in Canada.
The charges are not evidence of guilt and they are presumed innocent.