Las Vegas woman sentenced for fraud schemes

A Las Vegas woman was ordered to pay nearly $14 million in connection with a series of fraud schemes and was sentenced Thursday to 34 months in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Lorraine Riddiough’s schemes targeted small-business owners, many of them elderly, and a separate Medicare and insurance fraud scheme, a department release said.

Also known as Lorraine Ann Mader, Riddiough, 70, of Las Vegas also was sentenced to five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon in connection with four separate cases.

She pleaded guilty last year to four counts of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud and one count each of health care fraud and theft of government property.

From 2009 to 2013, according to prosecutors, Riddiough and others conspired to defraud small-business owners by falsely telling them that they qualified for grants, which Riddiough and others promised to secure for a fee, usually between $2,500 and $7,000.

Riddiough did not provide the promised services or obtain grants for the more than 25 business owners, the release said. After scamming the initial $2,500 to $7,000, Riddiough and others often told the business owners that grants had been approved, but that additional steps and fees were needed to access that grant, the release said.

Riddiough also admitted that after the telemarketing schemes were shut down in 2014, she faked medical conditions, ailments and injuries related to a minor, low-speed car crash to steal Medicaid benefits and money from an insurance company, the release said.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.