Two Minnesotans found guilty in $300 million telemarketing scheme

A federal jury found two Minnesotans guilty for their roles in a $300 million decadeslong telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly people nationwide.

Tashena Laverna Crump, 39, of Minneapolis and Ballam Hazeakiah Dudley, 37, of Plymouth are two of the more than 40 defendants charged in the case so far. They were found guilty Monday of multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud following a monthlong trial.

From at least 2000 to 2020, conspirators called victims with existing magazine subscriptions, offered to renew them and claimed to offer a discount, federal prosecutors said in the indictment. Callers were actually tricking people into signing up for new subscriptions that victims did not want and often could not afford, charges say.

Some were billed by as many as 10 companies at a time and were charged more than $1,000 per month in subscriptions, the charges say. Defendants stole more than $300 million total from more than 150,000 victims, indictments allege.

Alvin M. Winston Sr., special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Minneapolis, called it a "reprehensible scam."

He said conspirators "exhibited a ruthless level of deception and manipulation by targeting vulnerable victims."

The case is one of the largest elder fraud schemes in the nation's history, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a news release.

Crump was accused of being one of the call center managers. The managers trained telemarketers to use fraudulent sales scripts over the phone and supervised the centers, charges say. Many managers also conducted magazine sales, prosecutors alleged.

Crump's attorneys Matt Forsgren and Caitlinrose Fisher said they were "devastated" for their client following the verdict.

"She is one of the very best humans we have encountered in our experience practicing law," the two said in an email. "We are honored to continue representing her. And we will."

Dudley was charged with being one of the telemarketers, working out of a call center in Fridley for a business called West Side Readerz and later his home in Fayetteville, Ark.

Amondo Antoine Miller, 47, of Littleton, Colo., was also found guilty. Prosecutors said Miller owned multiple companies in the scheme.

Miller's attorney did not return a request for comment Tuesday. An attorney for Dudley declined to comment on the verdict.

Miller, Dudley and Crump's sentencings will be scheduled at a later date.