MENU

State

Monday, May 06, 2024

2 women face sentencing in 'gifting table' scheme

August 05, 2013 8:00 am • Last Updated: August 05, 2013 8:59 am

Hartford (AP) — Two Guilford women are facing sentencing after they were guilty of running a gifting table pyramid scheme.

Donna Bello and Jill Platt are scheduled to be sentenced Monday in federal court in Hartford. They were convicted in February of charges including wire fraud and filing false tax returns.

Prosecutors said Bello and Platt operated the scam from 2008 to 2011 and it often targeted women in financial distress. Prosecutors said the scheme involved women joining the clubs by giving $5,000 "gifts" to other table members. The new members climbed up the rankings by recruiting new members and left the tables after receiving $40,000 from new members.

Platt's attorney had said everything she did was legal and based upon the advice of lawyers. Bello's attorney denied it was a pyramid scheme.

Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.

STORIES THAT MAY INTEREST YOU

Boeing calls off first astronaut launch because of valve issue on rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on the rocket Monday night. The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner caps...

Poll: Fewer Black Americans plan to vote in 2024

Black Americans’ desire to vote in this year’s election is down sharply compared with four years ago, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted last month - a potentially troublesome sign fo...

Pro-Palestinian protesters break through barricades to retake MIT encampment

NEW YORK (AP) — Pro-Palestinian protesters that had been blocked by police from accessing an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday broke through fencing, linked arms and en...

Mom, aunt and 10 kids charged with assaulting 13-year-old girl in New London

New London ― Police said the mother of a 13-year-old city girl paid a group of 10 juveniles $50 to beat and humiliate the middle schooler who was whipped with a phone charging cord, choked and spit on...