A California man pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Peruvian-based call-centers that defrauded Spanish-speaking United States residents by falsely threatening them with arrest, deportation and other legal consequences.
According to court documents, Luis Rendon, 60, of Harbor City, California, operated a distribution center that helped the call center operators execute their fraud scheme from Peru. With Rendon’s guilty plea, eleven defendants have now pleaded guilty in connection with a $15 million trans-national fraud scheme aimed at defrauding Spanish-speaking residents of the United States by fraudulently threatening them with legal consequences if they did not pay for English-language learning products they never requested or pay bogus settlement fees. More than 30,000 Spanish-speaking residents of the United States were defrauded.
In total, the eleven defendants include seven Peruvian call center owner-operators and four distribution center operators who processed payments and facilitated the fraud in the United States. Many of the defendants collaborated and shared strategies on how to defraud Spanish-speaking residents of the United States.
Seven of the defendants were extradited from Peru and pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and received significant prison sentences. U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr. sentenced Henrry Milla, Carlos Espinoza, Jerson Renteria, Fernan Huerta, Omar Cuzcano, Evelyng Milla and Josmell Espinoza to sentences ranging from 88 months to 110 months in prison.
“These cases demonstrate that the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch will vigorously pursue and prosecute transnational criminals who defraud vulnerable U.S. consumers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Individuals who defraud our immigrant communities will be brought to justice and held accountable in U.S. courts.”
“Our cases with the Consumer Protection Branch demonstrate that the long arm of justice has no limits when it comes to reaching fraudsters who prey on our nation’s most vulnerable populations,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “We will continue to bring American justice to transnational criminals who use fear tactics and intimidation to steal money from immigrants, seniors and others who live in this country.”