MINNEAPOLIS — A Texas man has pleaded guilty in Minneapolis Federal Court on the eve of trial to his role in a $4.8 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, Jeremy Wade Wilson, 42, of Fort Worth, Texas, owned and operated Publishers Elite, a Texas-based company involved in fraudulent magazine sales. From 2013 through 2019, Wilson ran a telemarketing call center in Arlington, Texas, where he provided his telemarketers with scripts containing fraudulent sales pitches to defraud victim consumers out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Wilson reportedly knew many consumers on these lists were elderly or otherwise susceptible to fraudulent and deceptive sales tactics. Nevertheless, Wilson directed his telemarketers to call the people on these lists and trick them, through a series of lies and misrepresentations, into signing up for expensive magazine subscription packages.
During the course of the scheme, Wilson and his company defrauded more than 14,000 victims across the United States, including more than 200 victims in Minnesota. Between 2013 and 2019, Wilson’s company received more than $4.8 million from victims of his scheme.
Wilson, the last of 64 defendants charged in the nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme, was scheduled for trial on May 29, 2024. Wilson pleaded guilty earlier today before Judge John R. Tunheim to six counts of wire fraud and the SCAMS Act. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26, 2024.
This case results from an investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office provided additional assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph H. Thompson, Matthew S. Ebert, Harry M. Jacobs, Garrett S. Fields, Matthew C. Murphy, and Melinda A. Williams are prosecuting the case.
