“He lived like a rock star”: a fraudster who made millions for an “astral-clairvoyant forecast” was given a “ten”

A fraudster who bilked himself out of $175 million in a “massive” mental fraud scheme has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Patrice Runner, 57, of Canada, was convicted in June on multiple counts of defrauding “millions of elderly and vulnerable Americans.”

A Canadian fraudster who swindled more than US$175 million ($241 million CAD) from his North American victims through a “massive psychic mass mailing fraud scheme” has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

According to The Guardian, 57-year-old Patrice Runner, who has Canadian and French citizenship, was found guilty by a jury in June of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud. and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was found not guilty of four counts of email fraud.

On Monday, a New York judge sentenced a fraudster who had been under surveillance by US authorities since 2014 to a ten-year prison term.

“Patrice Runner’s extravagant lifestyle, born on the backs of millions of elderly and vulnerable Americans, has come to an end,” Chris Nielsen, inspector for the Philadelphia Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said in a statement after the sentencing, calling it “an appropriate punishment.”

Among Runner’s fraudulent activities were those in which his companies sent letters falsely claiming to be individual letters to millions of people. According to the US Department of Justice, the correspondence, written in cursive script, appeared to be from the famous French psychic Marie Duval and promised the recipient “the opportunity to achieve great wealth and happiness with the help of a psychic.”

Recipients were often “elderly and vulnerable” people, and they were asked to send a reward to Runner’s company for an “astral clairvoyant forecast.” After payment, the recipient received dozens of follow-up emails, all seemingly personalized, asking for additional payment. They were also asked to mail personal items such as locks of hair, handprints and photographs “for additional personalized rituals and astrological services,” the indictment says.

Runner maintains that he never overstepped the bounds of the law in his email business, Infogest Direct Marketing, by arguing that people would demand their money back if they weren’t satisfied.

“Maybe it’s immoral, maybe it’s bullshit,” he told Walrus magazine. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a scam.”

Canadian authorities twice found Runner guilty of fraud. In 1991, a company registered to Runner was fined $31,100 for falsely advertising the services of a clairvoyant who could predict winning lottery numbers. In 2000, a company under his name was fined US$362,000 by a Quebec court for misleading advertising of weight-loss products.

In an interview with The Walrus in a New York City jail, Runner said the appeal of his decades-long scam lies in its ability to attract the attention of millions of people who “within minutes… send a check for an item to an address or company they are talking about.” they never heard.”

The court heard how the letters were printed in Canada and transported by truck to Albany, New York, and then mailed in bulk. Companies associated with it sent about 56 million letters over two decades from 1994 to 2014, raising $175 million from nearly 1.5 million people across Canada and the United States.

“The most profitable years in business [Марии] Duval’s letter production was from 2005 to 2010,” Runner told The Walrus, meaning he earned $23 million in one year.

The Justice Department alleges that Runner used a series of shell companies registered in Canada and Hong Kong to conceal his role in the fraud. He moved frequently, living in Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Spain.

Law enforcement began investigating the scam in 2014 and closed it two years later. In December 2020, after lengthy extradition negotiations, Runner was arrested in Ibiza and eventually flown to New York.

Four more people involved in the mass mailing scam have pleaded guilty.

Before the trial, Runner said he didn’t have the money to pay a lawyer.

“I used to live like a rock star,” he said. “I wasn’t careful enough.” I thought the mail order business would last forever.”