Las Vegas man sentenced in multimillion-dollar scams
A man who ran multimillion-dollar prize promotion scams was sentenced Monday in Las Vegas to about seven years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey sentenced the Las Vegas man, 58-year-old Glen Burke, and ordered him to pay more than $2.7 million in restitution, reflecting the loss of one of Burke’s scams, the department said in a statement Monday.
Burke pleaded guilty in December to criminal contempt of court and conspiracy charges in connection with his operations that defrauded thousands of elderly victims out of more than $20 million, according to the department. His schemes were conducted in violation of a 1998 court order obtained by the Federal Trade Commission permanently banning him from telemarketing and making misrepresentations to consumers, the department said.
The department said Burke’s operations included mass-mailing fraud schemes that misled victims into believing that they had won large cash prizes. He then would mail solicitations using fake names that looked like they came from law firms or financial institutions, asking victims to pay a fee to claim their winnings.
Burke’s co-defendant, 52-year-old Michael Rossi of Las Vegas, also pleaded guilty in connection with one of Burke’s scams. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
