Owner Of Telemarketing Call Center Business Pleads Guilty To Multi-Year Scheme To Defraud PAC Donors

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RICHARD ZEITLIN, the owner of a telemarketing call center business, pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with his participation in a scheme to use his call centers to defraud donors of certain political action committees (“PACs”) through false and misleading statements.  ZEITLIN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Richard Zeitlin used his telemarketing business to deceive donors into believing they were contributing to charitable causes when, in reality, their money was diverted to political action committees.  Zeitlin’s fraudulent actions not only undermined the trust of donors but also exploited their goodwill for personal gain.  Today’s announcement highlights this Office’s dedication to holding accountable those who misuse charitable and political organizations to defraud and mislead the public.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment, court filings, and statements made in Court:

PACs are entities registered with the Federal Election Commission that may be tax-exempt and collect money to advocate on behalf of or against certain causes and political candidates.  By contrast, charities, unlike PACs, typically provide direct services to communities or causes.

From at least in or about 2017 up to and including in or about 2020, ZEITLIN used his telemarketing call center business and various associated entities to defraud numerous donors by providing misleading and false information about how the donors’ money would be spent and the nature of the organizations to which they were giving.  Specifically, ZEITLIN directed his employees to alter the call scripts used when calling potential donors on behalf of certain PACs in order to mislead potential donors into believing that they would be giving to a direct-services organization (i.e., a charity), rather than to a political advocacy organization (i.e., a PAC).  ZEITLIN directed that these lies, misleading statements, and misrepresentations be made so that donors would be more likely to give money, thereby increasing the funds raised and profits for his businesses – which typically received approximately 90% of the funds donated.  In some instances, Zeitlin’s businesses retained 100% of the funds donated with none of the money going to the causes described in telemarketing calls to donors.  When one PAC treasurer confronted ZEITLIN with complaints from donors that solicitation calls falsely represented a PAC as a charity, ZEITLIN falsely denied that the calls were being made, acknowledged that such calls would be inappropriate, and refused to give the treasurer any call recordings that would have revealed his fraud.  In or about May 2022, after learning that ZEITLIN and his businesses were under federal investigation, ZEITLIN directed his employees to delete electronic messages relating to his businesses.

If you believe you are a victim of fraud perpetrated by ZEITLIN, please contact USANYS.PACFraud@usdoj.gov or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov, and find more information here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/united-states-v-richard-zeitlin.

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ZEITLIN, 54, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.  ZEITLIN is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Kaplan on December 10, 2024.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jane Kim, Emily Deininger, and Rebecca T. Dell are in charge of the prosecution.