JACKSONVILLE, Fla. â A federal judge Thursday sentenced a man to two years in prison for a multimillion-dollar scam involving McDonald's promotional games such as "Monopoly" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
Two other men were sentenced to six months of home arrest, and another to probation.
The four men were the latest to be sentenced in a broad probe into the years-long conspiracy, which prosecutors say involved more than $20 million in fraudulently redeemed game pieces. The pieces were attached to McDonald's drinks and food boxes or obtained through advertising.
Forty-seven people have pleaded guilty. Four have been found guilty and one man was acquitted.
The four men sentenced Thursday -- Jerome Pearl, 45, of Miami; George Chandler, 30, of Walhalla, S.C.; John Henderson, 50, of Las Vegas; and Kevin Whitfield, of Savannah, Ga. -- were accused of recruiting winners or acting as winners in the games. Among the prizes they stole were a $1-million winning piece and luxury sports cars, prosecutors say.
The four were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. None of the men can keep the money they won.
Makebags on April 16th, 2017 at 02:37 UTC »
The part of this story that was the craziest was how McDonald's paid out the million prizes after the scam was uncovered. A third party randomly picked McDonald's restaurants out of all of them in North America. Reps were sent to the chosen ones, counted customers to a predetermined number, and THAT customer was given a cool million.
vonbrunk on April 16th, 2017 at 00:23 UTC »
I remember being a paperboy in the '90s, and the Sunday Papers had McDonald's Monopoly ads with free game stickers. Before delivering my route, I would call the newspaper distribution center and tell them my bundle of papers was short by about 10-15 newspapers, and then my sister and I would reap the precious game stickers.
We never made a fortune, but we did score some apple pies and large fries.
MJMurcott on April 16th, 2017 at 00:03 UTC »
must pay restitution of $786,500 at $50 a month.
So just over 1000 years needed to pay the money back.