The last defendant in the MTA debt collection scheme has pleaded guilty. Paul Anthony Vasquez pleaded guilty on January 17, 2012 to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering. Vasquez also agreed to pay full restitution and forfeit assets seized by federal agents, including over $950,000 in cash and a 1.5 carat diamond ring.
If Vasquez’s name sounds familiar, memory points for you! Vasquez was the principal operator of Maxwell, Turner and Associates Inc., (MTA) in California. MTA claimed to provide debt collection services.
In early December I wrote about Vasquez’s colleagues, Darrian Summers and Stefan Lemar Miller, whom were sentenced to eight years and six years of prison respectively for the fraudulent debt collection service.
In the MTA fraud, after a client signed a contract, MTA would provide them with false information about legal proceedings, the whereabouts of the debtor, the ability to collect the funds, and the need for additional fees.
When MTA collected money from the debtor, they would not send the money to their clients. Once the client stopped sending money to MTA, they would stop communication with the client. Vasquez admitted in the plea agreement that the losses to victims of this scheme were more than $1 million.
Vasquez is the third and final defendant to plead guilty to this scheme – Source.
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