MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in May 2021.
When then-U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Erica MacDonald announced charges in a massive telemarketing scheme in October 2020, she called it "the largest elder fraud scheme in the nation."
On Friday, in a court hearing held remotely, the sister of the alleged kingpin in that scheme pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, admitting the companies she worked for bilked $86 million from thousands of vulnerable victims.
Rhonda Moulder, from Minneapolis, opted for the plea deal rather than taking her case to trial. As a result, she is facing an estimated 15 to 19 years in prison.
In the plea hearing, Moulder agreed that her brother Anthony Moulder obtained "lead lists" that had the names of elderly people with existing magazine subscriptions. Moulder then provided telemarketers with fraudulent sales scripts convincing the victims that their existing subscriptions were expiring or renewing at a higher rate.
Rhonda's other brother David Moulder, from Prior Lake, Minnesota, is the alleged kingpin of the scheme.
Some victims received magazines in the course of the scheme, but the fraudsters pocketed money in the process, Rhonda Moulder said.
“The thieving greed of fraudsters who target senior citizens knows no bounds,” said FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Michael Paul said back in 2020. “Using a tactic like telemarketing magazine sales, these deceitful scam artists bilk hard-earned money from their aging victims – leaving so many financially devastated in their retirement years and without recourse for recovery."
Federal prosecutors charged 60 people, including 15 Minnesotans, in the nationwide case, which totalled $300 million in losses, they said.
This case is being prosecuted by the same team at Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office now leading the “Feeding our Future” fraud case.
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