Man Gets Prison for Fake Ad Sales
A Woodland Hills man was sentenced Monday to 45 months in prison for scamming companies out of $700,000 when he sold them ads in nonexistent ethnic publications, federal prosecutors said.
Rodney Allen, 45, had pleaded guilty to four counts of money laundering from operating a scam in which he targeted companies interested in minority outreach, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Allen called company officials and asked them to buy ads in bogus publications with names such as Minority Outreach Post, American Hispanic News and National Black Employment, Mrozek said. Allen also sent companies invoices for ads he claimed they had bought but never paid for.
Allen was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew.
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