Former top manager and sales manager of Epsilon Data Management LLC (Epsilon) were recently found guilty of selling the data of millions of Americans to participants in a fraudulent scheme involving mail. The individuals convicted in this case are Robert Reger, aged 57, and David Little, aged 64. For over a decade, they provided fraudsters with target lists of the company’s customers.
Epsilon Data Management LLC operates as a brokerage and marketing company that specializes in the collection, analysis, and sale of consumer data to businesses for targeted marketing purposes. It utilizes advanced algorithms and a vast database containing information on 100 million households in the United States to predict consumer behavior and identify potential buyers for its clients’ goods and services.
Both accused individuals were employed at Epsilon, where they utilized the company’s algorithms to generate new consumer lists that were likely to respond to phishing scams.
The lists sold to scammers included comprehensive details such as names, addresses, email addresses, age, consumer preferences, and shopping history. The perpetrators targeted individuals through personalized emails, luring them in with promises of large prizes, fake astrological readings foretelling wealth, and other deceits that led to people sending money to the fraudsters.
The US Department of Justice alleges that the convicted individuals knowingly shared this data, fully aware of its intended use in defrauding older and vulnerable populations. In one instance, the perpetrators sold 100 lists to a single fraudster, sustaining the scheme for a decade and resulting in hundreds of thousands of Americans losing significant sums of money.
While Epsilon itself did not directly partake in the scheme, it resolved its criminal liability in 2021 through a deferred prosecution agreement. As part of the resolution, the company agreed to pay $150 million in fines, with $122 million designated for compensating 200,000 victims of the fraud.
Prior to this, three Epsilon employees and the former vice president of the company had also been found guilty for their involvement in the scheme. Their testimonies, along with those of former and current employees, played a crucial role in the conviction of Reger and Little, who did not plead guilty.
Each of the two former leaders faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for each count, including conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic communications, as well as multiple instances of mail and wire fraud. The final judgment is scheduled to be delivered on September 30 by the United States District Court in Colorado.