A scammer who swindled more than $175 million from 1.3 million elderly and “vulnerable” Americans in a two-decade-long mailing scam has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Patrice Runner, 57, operated an international mail fraud scam in which he posed as a psychic and promised wealth and happiness to those who sent him cash in the mail, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Runner, who has Canadian and French citizenship, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of mail and wire fraud in June 2023. He was found not guilty of four counts of mail fraud.
Runner, whom authorities had been pursuing since 2014, received a decade-long sentence from a New York judge on Monday.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which investigated his crimes, said after his sentencing that Runner’s “extravagant lifestyle, born on the backs of millions of older and vulnerable Americans, has come to an end.”
Four other co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with their mass mail fraud scheme.
Patrice Runner, 57, (pictured) has been jailed for 10 years after swindling more than $175 million from 1.3 million elderly and “vulnerable” Americans in a mailing scam that spanned two decades.
Using the name and image of María Duval, along with those of another French psychic named Patrick Guérin, Runner and his co-conspirators sent letters promising recipients that their psychic guidance and talismans could help them change their lives.
The fraud scheme, which began in 1994 and lasted until November 2014, preyed on elderly people and those in desperate situations trying to get back on their feet financially.
Using Maria Duval’s name and likeness, along with those of another French psychic named Patrick Guerin, Runner and his co-conspirators sent letters promising recipients that their psychic guidance and talismans could help them change their lives.
Scammers obtained the names of vulnerable and elderly people by renting and trading mailing lists with other mail fraud schemes.
When a victim responded to a letter, Runner and his accomplices allegedly bombarded her with dozens of additional letters, with some victims receiving as many as 100, according to prosecutors.
Each of the additional letters also reportedly appeared to be a personalized written communication, with portions apparently handwritten, and sought additional payment from the victim.
Victims were ordered to send payments (often ranging from $5 to $50) to purchase various supposed “unique and supernatural objects,” which were actually cheap, mass-produced trinkets, the indictment claimed.
They were also urged to submit a payment to receive “personalized astrological services and studies,” which were never actually returned.
Prosecutors say neither Duval nor Guerin had any role in sending the letters, did not receive responses from the victims and did not send additional letters after the victims had paid money.
Runner, who has Canadian and French citizenship, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and multiple counts of mail and wire fraud in June 2023. He was found not guilty of four counts of mail fraud.
The letters sent in response were addressed to a New York-based company where employees “threw away the vast majority of victims’ responses,” according to an indictment.
According to the Department of Justice, Runner used a series of shell companies registered in Canada and Hong Kong to conceal his involvement in the scheme while living in several foreign countries, including Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Spain. .
Infogest Direct Marketing benefited from the letters, according to court documents.
They were printed in Canada and driven to Albany, New York, on a truck before being mailed in large batches, up to 50,000 at a time.
Runner denied breaking the law, telling The Walrus Magazine last year that “maybe it’s not moral, maybe it’s silly… But that doesn’t mean it’s fraud.”
He also boasted to the magazine about his writing skills, stating that he could “get someone’s attention, and at the end, after a few minutes, the person sends a check, for a product, to an address or company I’ve never seen.” I’ve heard about’.
A grand jury in the Eastern District of New York indicted Runner in October 2018, and he was arrested in Ibiza in April of the following year, before being transferred to a prison in Madrid.
He was extradited to the United States from Spain in December 2020 and on June 16 of last year he was found guilty by a federal jury.
In 2019, investigators with the United States Postal Inspection Service said they had been able to return more than $200,000 in cash and money order payments sent by nearly 6,000 victims.
In addition to outstanding checks and credit payments that were stopped, the investigation saved victims about $827,000.
As of last June, most victims had not received any refunds, and officials said it was incredibly unlikely that most would ever do so.
Prosecutors say neither Duval nor Guerin had any role in sending the letters, did not receive responses from the victims and did not send additional letters after the victims paid money.
Each of the additional letters also reportedly appeared to be a personalized written communication, with portions apparently handwritten, and sought additional payment from the victim, according to prosecutors.
Inspector-in-Charge Chris Nielsen of the USPIS Philadelphia Division, in a Monday news release announcing Runner’s sentence, said: “Patrice Runner’s federal conviction and sentence is the appropriate punishment for someone who routinely preyed on Americans. vulnerable and elderly.
“Postal inspectors will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that you can trust that the U.S. Mail is free from these types of predatory schemes.”
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, added: ‘This case demonstrates that the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Division and its partners at USPIS are committed to investigating and prosecuting schemes. of transnational fraud targeting American consumers.
‘The global nature of this scheme meant that we had to rely on law enforcement agencies around the world to provide evidence of criminality. We would like to thank officials in France, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Canada, and in particular the Canadian Competition Bureau, for providing us with assistance in obtaining evidence in this matter, as well as Spain for arresting and extraditing Runner, ensuring that do justice”.