6-Year Sentence In LA-Based Telemarketing Scheme

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who operated a Los Angeles-based "work-at-home" telemarketing fraud scheme has been sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison for conning thousands of victims out of more than $16 million.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says 46-year-old Matthew Craig Rubin was sentenced Monday and ordered to pay a $16 million judgment obtained for his victims by the Federal Trade Commission.

Rubin spent five years as a fugitive in Mexico. He was returned the United States last year.

Rubin and his brother Andrew ran Medicor, a Van Nuys marketing company that used false claims to deceive customers into buying software to operate home-based medical billing businesses.

Andrew Rubin pleaded guilty in 2006 to two counts of money laundering. He is currently serving a prison sentence.

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