Two Men Sentenced to Prison for Their Roles in a $300 Million Nationwide Magazine Fraud Scheme Targeting Elders

MINNEAPOLIS - Anthony Eugene Moulder and Abdou-Rahmane Diallo have been sentenced to 120 months and 90 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, Moulder, 63, of Fort Myers, Florida, owned and operated several Florida-based companies involved in fraudulent magazine sales, including Gulf Coast Readers Inc., ARCO Media Inc., KMK Magazines Inc., and Leisure Time Resources Inc. As part of the scheme, from 2008 through 2020, Moulder purchased lists that contained the information of consumers-many of whom were elderly and vulnerable-who were already receiving magazines through other companies. Moulder provided the lists to his sales teams and directed them to use deceptive sales scripts to induce victims into making large or repeat payments to Moulder's companies for unwanted magazine subscriptions. Over the course of the scheme, Moulder and his companies defrauded thousands of victims across the United States out of approximately $86,589,272.

According to court documents, Diallo, 36, of Montreal, Quebec, was a co-owner and operator of Readers Services, a Canadian-based company that carried out a telemarking fraud scheme. From 2011 through 2020, Diallo and other participants of the fraud scheme targeted people who had previously been victimized by fraudulent magazine companies and were currently being billed by one or more fraudulent magazine companies on an ongoing basis-and used this vulnerability to victimize them all over again through promises of being able to cancel their unwanted magazine subscriptions. Diallo pretended to be from the "magazine cancellation department" and offered to pay off the victims' "outstanding balance" and cancel their existing magazine subscriptions in exchange for a large, lump-sum payment. In reality, the victims did not owe Diallo or his company any money, and Diallo had no power or ability to cancel the victims' existing magazine subscriptions or any outstanding balances. As a result of this "piggyback" fraud scheme, Diallo and other participants in the fraud scheme defrauded more than 20,000 victims-many of whom were elderly and vulnerable-across the United States out of approximately $30 million.

On January 13, 2023, Moulder pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. On March 4, 2024, Diallo pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. Both men were sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Judge John R. Tunheim.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI. Additional assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), and the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Jacobs and Garrett S. Fields prosecuted the cases.