Michigan LGBT charity scammed out of $100K by fake Mariah Carey promoters
DETROIT - It sounded like an amazing opportunity to benefit young people, backed by superstar recording artist Mariah Carey.
Instead, an LGBT organization in Michigan found itself swindled out of $100,000.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release issued on Monday, The Lesbian Gay Community Network of Western Michigan (now the Grand Rapids Pride Center) was one of two organizations targeted by two men in a multi-state scheme involving a bogus benefit concert.
Raul Mejia Pereida, 47, and Allen Dean Gordon Clayborn, 35, were both charged with wire fraud and identity theft stemming from what the Justice Department described as a "sophisticated" operation carried out in 2015 and 2016.
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According to the federal agency, the two men used aliases and pretended to represent Carey. In turn, they convinced the Grand Rapids-based LGBT organization and another group in Flagstaff, Arizona, to pay a total of $130,000 for the singer to appear at charity concerts.
The elaborate scheme involved detailed contracts that were consistent with entertainment industry standards, as well as trips to New York City and Las Vegas for charity organizers to listen to Carey perform, the agency said.
Complimentary tickets were altered to look as if they were gifts from Carey, and the pair used fake email accounts made in the name of the singer's road manager.
"All of this created the illusion that the victims were negotiating with actual employees of the singer’s production company. Mariah Carey knew nothing about this. The defendants used the money for their own purposes," the news release said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey prosecuted this case. The two men appeared in federal court in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney issued the following sentences:
- Pereida: 27 months in prison, and due to his undocumented status, deportation to Mexico after his sentence is complete.
- Clayborn: 60 months in prison.
Both men also were ordered to repay the $130,000.
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Follow Aleanna Siacon on Twitter: @AleannaSiacon
