Montreal man sentenced to 10 years in U.S. for 'massive' telemarketing scheme

A Montreal man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Pennsylvania judge for operating a telemarketing scheme that defrauded American seniors of millions of dollars.

Ari Tietolman, 50, was extradited from Canada to the United States last year and pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.

Tietolman ran his "massive scheme" from Montreal between 2005 and 2014, according to a Tuesday news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The attorney's office said Tietolman's team of telemarketers sold worthless or non-existent fraud protection services, prescription drug discount cards and discounted legal services to tens of thousands of U.S. seniors.

"Ari Tietolman directed an almost decade-long scheme that scammed seniors out of millions of their hard-earned dollars," said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero in the release. "Specifically targeting the elderly because you consider them easy prey is deplorable."

Tietolman was first charged in 2017. According to the indictment, he and his partners had taken US$13 million from their victims since May 2011.

A spokesperson for the attorney's office said Tietolman has already been in custody for 14 months, which will be deducted from his 10-year sentence. He has also been ordered to pay US$7 million in restitution to his victims.

The indictment says the telemarketers often told their victims they were calling on behalf of their bank, their insurance company or the U.S. government. They sometimes said their products were free or less expensive than the amount that was eventually taken from their bank accounts.

In some cases, they assured victims they wouldn't debit their bank accounts, but then did so as soon as the person provided their banking information.

Most of the telemarketers worked out of so-called "boiler rooms" in Montreal, though some worked in India. Tietolman called these rooms "fulfilment rooms," according to the news release.

Two of Tietolman's partners have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Adam Harper worked with Tietolman in Montreal, while Marc Roy Ferry, who was based in Pennsylvania, ran front companies in the U.S. to process the fraud money and wire most of it to accounts in Canada.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 13, 2024.