• August 7, 2001

As the LA Times reported earlier today, a California man was sentenced Monday to 45 months in prison for scamming companies out of $700,000 when he sold them ads in nonexistent ethnic publications, federal prosecutors said.

Rodney Allen, 45, had pleaded guilty to four counts of money laundering for operating a scam in which he targeted companies interested in minority outreach, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

Allen called company officials and asked them to buy ads in bogus publications, Mrozek said. Allen also sent companies invoices for ads he claimed they had bought but never paid for.