Montreal man sentenced to three years for weight-loss product scam in U.S.

A Montreal man convicted earlier this year of a fraudulent weight loss product scam in the United States has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Michel Poirier pleaded guilty in March for his role in a mass marketing fraud scheme from 2011 to 2016.

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It says Poirier would use American printing companies to handle mass mailings of brochures promoting bogus weight-loss products.

The attorney’s office says companies that printed and mailed the brochures would receive bad cheques, and Poirier would stop answering calls and emails.

American officials believe consumers who received the brochures and purchased weight-loss products were defrauded out of more than $1.2 million.

U.S. District Judge William Conley called the crime callous at sentencing earlier this month and said Poirier “failed to appreciate the financial and emotional harm to the victims.”