TAMPA, Fl. — Former New Port Richey resident Lori Owen has been sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez for conspiracy to commit bank, wire, and mail fraud. Owen plead guilty on April 9, 2021.
As part of her sentence, the Court also ordered that the identified victims are repaid in the amount of $620,103, and entered a money judgment of $265,964, representing the proceeds of the fraud.
Owen was charged back in December of 2019 for her involvement in a telemarketing scam regarding tax impersonation fraud. The scam ran from December 2014 through the end of 2016. During this time, over $1.38 million were taken from victims in the United States.
The conspirators, some of whom were located overseas, extorted money from victims by falsely representing to the victims that they had financial obligations to the Internal Revenue Service, Canadian tax authorities, or other entities. The conspirators then threatened the victims with arrest, prosecution, or other legal consequences for their purported debts and demanded that they pay the conspirators the “owed” money.
Owen worked with other people, including her ex-husband David Owen and her son, Andrew Corrigan. They collected their proceeds in a variety of ways, including: opening bank accounts into which victims made cash deposits; receiving wire transfers directly from the conspirators; processing prepaid debit cards that the victims purchased through merchant accounts that Lori Owen opened and controlled; and receiving cashier’s checks purchased by the victims.
