A Montreal man convicted of fraud involving weight loss products has been sentenced to three years in a federal U.S. prison.
Michel Poirier, 60, received his sentence in a Wisconsin courthouse on June 10. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud in March after being extradited from Canada to the U.S.
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Between 2011 and 2016, Poirier defrauded victims of $1.8 million in a “mass marketing fraud scheme that targeted printing companies and consumers in the United States,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Poirier hired printing companies in the U.S. – without paying them – to print and mail brochures promoting weight loss products he was selling. The brochures included fake testimonials from clients and doctors, and a non-existent money-back guarantee.
Poirier was operating out of Canada at the time.
The judge said the length of the scheme was a factor in the prison term.
