LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and RONALD J. VERROCHIO, the
Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the United States
Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the arrest late
yesterday of EMANUEL MEDEIROS for perpetrating a mass-mail, fake
invoice scam that targeted approximately 25,000 businesses
throughout the United States and abroad, and yielded an estimated
$7 million in proceeds. According to the Complaint filed earlier
today in Manhattan federal court:
MEDEIROS’s scheme involved mailing to thousands of
companies (the “Victim Companies”) throughout the world phony
bills for bogus services that the Victim Companies had not agreed
to purchase. MEDEIROS, who sometimes used the name “Joseph
Garcia,” conducted business as Boom Global Media Inc., or another
company, Bradstreet International (collectively, “Boom Global”).
These companies held themselves out as internet-based business
listing services, purporting to offer a “business to business
guide,” which could provide “cost-effective Internet Advertising”
enabling customers to “showcase [their] goods and/or services”
and “recruit talented and qualified people for [their]
organization.”
In fact, however, Boom Global did not provide the
services claimed. Instead, MEDEIROS used Boom Global to send
bills to thousands of Victim Companies, which bills were styled
as “RENEWAL” notices, even though the Victim Companies had not
previously purchased services from Boom Global. These bills,
most of which charged the Victim Companies $297.83, also
threatened to charge Victim Companies a penalty of 2% per month
for “overdue accounts,” even though the Victim Companies had not
purchased services from Boom Global. While a number of these
“RENEWAL” notices were ignored because the Victim Company had not
actually agreed to purchase services from Boom Global, a large
number of Victim Companies nevertheless were duped into paying
the money demanded in the bill. Through his fraudulent scheme,
MEDEIROS reportedly induced approximately 25,000 Victim Companies
to pay fees, yielding an estimated $7 million in fraudulent
proceeds.
One Victim Company reported receiving a number of
facsimiles and e-mails from Boom Global which, among other
things, threatened that Boom Global would report the Victim
Company to a collection agency if the company failed to pay Boom
Global’s bill. The Victim Company ultimately paid the bill
because it was concerned that its credit rating would be affected
if it failed to do so. Other Victim Companies simply paid Boom
Global’s bill in error, even though they had not agreed to
purchase any services from Boom Global.
MEDEIROS, who resides in Canada, used an address on
Greenwich Street in Manhattan as the purported address of Boom
Global, but that location is in fact a commercial mail receiving
agency (“CMRA”). MEDEIROS paid the CMRA approximately $1,000 per
month to mail approximately 200 to 400 letters every two weeks
for the past four years. Mail to Boom Global received at the
Greenwich Street address would be forwarded to MEDEIROS in Canada
through a commercial carrier. In addition, Boom Global has a web
site, www.boomglobalmedia.com, which appears on its face to allow
a user to search for companies providing certain products and
services but actually does little more than provide basic
information of the sort readily accessible on a Victim Company’s
web site, including contact information and the names of a few
company executives.
MEDEIROS, 47, resides in Toronto, Canada. He is
charged with one count of mail fraud. If convicted, he faces a
maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
MEDEIROS will be presented later today before U.S.
Magistrate Judge ANDREW J. PECK.
Mr. GARCIA thanked the USPIS for its assistance in this
investigation. Mr. GARCIA said the investigation is continuing.
This prosecution is being handled by the Major Crimes
Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United
States Attorneys MARCUS A. ASNER and JULIAN J. MOORE are in
charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely
accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and
until proven guilty.
08-151 ###
