MINNEAPOLIS- A Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection to a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims announced, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, from 2000 through February 2020, Russell Jason Rahm, 52, participated in a telemarketing fraud scheme involving fraudulent magazine subscription sales. Rahm was the owner and Chief Executive Officer of several Kansas-based companies involved in the fraudulent scheme, including Subscription Ink Co. and Millennium Marketing. As part of the scheme, Rahm’s companies, along with other companies, used fraudulent sales scripts to defraud victim-consumers, many of whom were elderly or otherwise vulnerable, out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The fraudulent sales scripts were designed to induce consumers, through a series of lies and misrepresentations, into making large or repeat payments. Rahm’s companies also handled collections for those victim-consumers who did not pay or who challenged the resulting charges as fraudulent. Rahm’s companies received, reviewed, and responded to complaints from victim-consumers to state Attorney General’s offices and the Better Business Bureau.
According to court documents, Rahm and his companies also provided sales leads and handled order management, billing, and collections for other companies involved in fraudulent magazine sales in exchange for a percentage of the revenue received from victim-consumers.
Rahm and his companies defrauded thousands of victims and collected approximately $103 million from victims as a result of this fraudulent scheme.
In total, 60 defendants were charged, in multiple indictments, for their roles in this scheme that targeted more than 150,000 elderly and vulnerable victims out of $300 million.
Rahm pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in U.S. District Court before Judge John R. Tunheim. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled yet.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Harry M. Jacobs, Melinda A. Williams, and Matthew S. Ebert are prosecuting the case.