Colorado Man Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for His Role in $300 Million Nationwide Telemarketing Fraud Scheme Targeting the Elderly

MINNEAPOLIS – A Colorado man has been sentenced to 96 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his role in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. 

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Amondo Antoine Miller, 48, of Littleton, Colorado, knowingly conspired with numerous other defendants to carry out a telemarketing scheme that began in at least 2000 and victimized numerous individuals across the United States, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Miller and his co-conspirators accomplished their scheme by calling victim-consumers who had one or more existing magazine subscriptions and offering to "renew" the existing magazine subscriptions, often at a reduced cost. In reality, the conspirators tricked the victim-consumers into signing up for entirely new magazine subscriptions, which they did not want and often could not afford. Some victim-consumers were fraudulently billed by as many as ten companies at a time and received more than $1,000 in monthly magazine subscription charges. Over the course of the scheme, the co-conspirators defrauded more than $300 million from over 150,000 victims nationwide.

On November 6, 2023, Miller was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. He was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Judge John R. Tunheim, who remarked that this case is “the largest elder fraud case in the nation.”

The case was the first in Minnesota charged under the Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act of 1994, which ensures enhanced penalties for persons convicted of mail or wire fraud in connection with the conduct of telemarketing. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Jacobs, Matthew S. Ebert, Joseph H. Thompson, Garrett S. Fields, and Melinda A. Williams prosecuted the case.