‘Boiler Room’ Operator Handed 5-Year Sentence

The owner of a telephone marketing “boiler room” was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to serve five years in prison and pay $200,000 in fines and restitution.

Miklos Rath, 56, of the Fairfax District, pleaded guilty April 26 to three counts of mail fraud for operating Copy Supply Warehouse, a mail-order firm that prosecutors said used high-pressure sales techniques, bribery and lies to sell photocopying toner to office managers at wildly inflated prices.

Copy Supply Warehouse had at least seven offices nationwide, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gary S. Lincenberg said. Thousands of companies fell victim to the scheme, losing from $100 to $26,000 each.