Scheme victimized more than one million Americans.
AB Wire
It’s not just in India that superstition and black magic is used to cheat people and fleece money: it happens in America too, and that too through the US postal mail.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a consent decree that permanently barred eight individuals and entities from operating an alleged international multi-million dollar mail-fraud scheme in the name of alleged psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin.
The defendants are barred from using the U.S. mail to distribute any advertisements, solicitations or promotional materials on behalf of any psychics, clairvoyants or astrologers, according to the Justice Department.
The consent decree also enjoined the defendants from using the U.S. mail to distribute materials representing that services or items offered for purchase will increase the recipient’s odds of winning a lottery, will bring the recipient good luck or will entitle the recipient to receive an inheritance.
The following eight international defendants agreed to be bound by a permanent injunction in order to resolve the United States’ civil suit against them: Canadian company 9097-9394 Québec Inc. dba Infogest Direct Marketing (Infogest); Infogest employees Mary Thanos, Daniel Sousse and Philip Lett, all of Quebec, Canada; Hong Kong corporation Destiny Research Center Ltd.; Destiny Research Center President Martin Dettling of Zurich, Switzerland; Patrick Guerin of France and Maria Duval of France.
In an amended complaint filed in November 2015, the United States alleges that the defendants operated a mail fraud scheme in which they sent letters purporting to be written by psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin to American consumers through the U.S. mail. The letters claim that the psychics have had a specific, personalized vision or psychic reading revealing that the recipient of the letter has the opportunity to achieve great wealth, including claims of winning millions in the lottery.
The solicitations urge victims to purchase various products and services in order to ensure that the foreseen good fortune comes to pass. In reality, the solicitations are identical, mass produced form letters sent to tens of thousands of recipients throughout the United States every month. Many of the customers who receive the solicitations are 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.