{"id":53388,"date":"2023-06-16T14:10:43","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T21:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388"},"modified":"2023-06-16T14:11:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T21:11:38","slug":"feds-canadian-man-stole-more-than-175-million-using-psychic-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from victims in the United States, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Patrice Runner, 57, a Canadian and French citizen, operated a mass-mailing fraud scheme from 1994 through November 2014. <\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the scheme, Runner sent letters to millions of U.S. consumers, many elderly and vulnerable. <\/span><\/p>\n

The letters falsely purported to be individualized, personal communications from so-called \u201cpsychics,\u201d including Maria Duval (leading this type of fraud scheme to be referred to as a \u201cMaria Duval Scam\u201d), and promised that the recipient had the opportunity to achieve great wealth and happiness with the psychic\u2019s assistance, in exchange for payment of a fee. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once a victim made a single payment in response to one of the letters, the victim was bombarded with dozens of additional letters, all purporting to be personalized communications from the psychics and offering additional services and items for a fee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the scheme\u2019s 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. <\/span><\/p>\n

Runner and his co-conspirators obtained the names of elderly and vulnerable victims by renting and trading mailing lists with other mail fraud schemes. <\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, the so-called \u201cpsychics\u201d identified in the letters sent by the scheme had no role in sending the letters, did not receive responses from the victims, and did not send the additional letters after victims paid money. Some victims made dozens of payments in response to the fraudulent letters, losing thousands of dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Runner directed the scheme for the entirety of its 20-year operation, providing instructions to co-conspirators who ran the day-to-day operations through a Canadian company. <\/span><\/p>\n

Runner used a series of shell companies registered in Canada and Hong Kong to hide his involvement in the scheme while living in multiple foreign countries, including Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spanish authorities extradited Runner to the United States to face federal charges in December 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor over 20 years, Patrice Runner managed a predatory scheme that targeted older American by mailing personalized letters to millions of victims purporting to be from a world renown psychic. Yesterday\u2019s verdict should have come as no surprise to Mr. Runner,\u201d said Inspector in Charge Chris Nielsen of the Postal Inspection Service\u2019s Philadelphia Division. \u201cPostal Inspectors are committed to protecting American consumers by eliminating these fraudulent mailings from the mailstream.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Runner was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was found not guilty on four counts of mail fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

Runner will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each count. <\/span>He remains in prison pending sentencing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Four other people previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with this mass-mailing fraud scheme: Maria Thanos, 59, of Montreal, Canada; Philip Lett, 52, of Montreal, Canada; Sherry Gore, 72, of Indiana; and Daniel Arnold, 61, of Connecticut.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. <\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant Director John W. Burke and Trial Attorneys Charles B. Dunn, Rachel Baron, and Ann Entwistle of the Justice Department\u2019s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The department urges individuals to be on the lookout for a lottery, prize notification, and sweepstakes scams. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you receive a phone call, letter, or email promising a large prize in exchange for a fee, do not respond. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fraudsters often will use official-sounding names or the names of real lotteries or sweepstakes or pretend to be a government agent, purportedly helping to secure a prize.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has experienced financial fraud, experienced professionals are standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). <\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from victims in the United States, officials stated. According…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nCanadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388\"},\"wordCount\":673,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388\",\"name\":\"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=53388#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Veterans-Fraud.png\",\"width\":480,\"height\":275},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme","description":"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme","og_description":"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":275,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme","datePublished":"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388"},"wordCount":673,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","articleSection":["U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388","name":"Canadian Man and Others Stole More Than $175 Million Using Psychic Fraud Scheme","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","datePublished":"2023-06-16T21:10:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-16T21:11:38+00:00","description":"A federal jury in New York convicted a Canadian man for perpetrating a decades-long mass-mailing fraud scheme that stole more than $175 million from","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=53388#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Veterans-Fraud.png","width":480,"height":275},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53390,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53388\/revisions\/53390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}