Fake scooter TV infomercial took investors for a $1.9 million ride

[Tony_FLADEM]

The TV infomercial for the "Boomer Rider" looked pretty slick, and Keith Allen Mills told his investors he had $10 million in revenues, a big inventory of the electric mobility scooters and a way to make Medicare pay most of the cost for customers.

The sales pitch — accompanied by the video — persuaded 91 people from all around the country to invest more than $2 million with the Palm Beach County man's business, federal prosecutors said.

But it was all a ruse and Mills, 53, was just taking investors for a ride, court records show. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October in federal court in West Palm Beach and admitted defrauding about $1.9 million from his investors.

The infomercial never aired on TV, Mills didn't have $10 million, he didn't have Medicare approval and he didn't have hundreds of the scooters — he had four, his lawyer Valentin Rodriguez told U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks at sentencing on Friday.

Mills did have a drug and alcohol abuse problem and he and his associates, one of whom since died, blew a lot of the money on a "lavish lifestyle", according to court documents.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-infomercial-scooters-fraud-20130111,0,1264766.story

[RockaFowler]

1. So many of these scams here in SoFla

We attract them here for some odd reason. A lot of gullible people who buy this crap here, too. Every other day there is a story about someone getting scammed by one thing or another.