United States v. Dino Nastasi, et al. and Jonathan Fernandez, et al.

United States v. Dino Nastasi, et al. and Jonathan Fernandez, et al.
According to the indictment, beginning in or about 2010, the defendants owned, managed, and/or worked as a telemarketer in one or more call centers in Costa Rica that were engaged in a sweepstakes scheme directed at individuals residing in the United States.  The defendants fraudulently induced victims to pay thousands of dollars by falsely representing that the victims had won valuable prizes. Once the defendants induced victims to make an initial payment, the defendants would continue to call those victims and insist that they make additional payments for new fabricated fees and costs until the victims either ran out of money or discovered the fraudulent nature of the scheme.