A 41-year-old Boca Raton man was indicted on federal mail-fraud charges Friday after authorities say he got free shipping for his internet businesses by setting up accounts with UPS, DHL, and FedEx and saying he was a representative of businesses such as Target, Walmart, and Apple, according to prosecutors.
If convicted of all 26 counts, he could be in prison for 520 years.
Court documents say Rogerio Chaves Scotton, of Brazil, operated brazilexpressonline.com, according to court documents, where he sold electronics and other goods and shipped them around the U.S. and Brazil, with lower shipping costs than his competitors because, well, he wasn't paying for them.
Scotton allegedly shipped thousands of packages with fake accounts of other companies; authorities appear to have caught on when the real companies said they weren't the ones mailing all of these packages and got their money back. He faces 20 years in prison and at least $250,000 in fines on each of his 26 counts of mail fraud.
