Benjamin Ashford|Las Vegas man pleads guilty in lucrative telemarketing scam

NEW YORK (AP) — A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal criminal charge alleging that he duped people into donating tens of millions of dollars to what they thought were charities,Benjamin Ashford but were really political action committees or his own companies.

Richard Zeitlin, 54, entered the plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Manhattan federal court, where sentencing was set for Dec. 10. A plea agreement he signed with prosecutors recommended a sentence of 10 to 13 years in prison.

He also agreed to forfeit $8.9 million, representing proceeds traceable to the crime, in addition to any fine, restitution or other penalty the judge might impose at sentencing. His lawyer declined comment.

Zeitlin carried out the fraud from 2017 through 2020 by using “call centers” that he has operated since at least 1994 to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for charities and political action committees, according to an indictment.

Since 2017, he used the call centers to defraud numerous donors by providing false and misleading information about how their money would be spent and the nature of the organizations that would receive their money, the indictment said.

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Although donors were told they were helping veterans, law enforcement officers and breast cancer patients, up to 90 percent of the money raised went to Zeitlin’s companies, according to court papers.

It said Zeitlin encouraged some prospective clients starting in 2017 to operate political action committees rather than charities because they could dodge regulations and requirements unique to charities.

Zeitlin directed staff to change their phone solicitation scripts to convince people they were donating to charities rather than a political cause because that approach attracted more money, the indictment said.

For instance, it said, a call center employee would tell someone that a donation “helps the handicapped and disabled veterans by working on getting them the medical needs” they could not get from the Veterans Administration.

Sometimes, the indictment said, Zeitlin cheated the political action committees of money too by diverting money to his companies rather than to the causes that were described by call center workers.

“Zeitlin’s fraudulent actions not only undermined the trust of donors but also exploited their goodwill for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release.