The scams—which generally targeted the elderly and other vulnerable groups—included posing as victim's relatives in urgent need of money and falsely promising victims large cash prizes, various high-ticket items for sale over the Internet at deeply discounted prices or employment opportunities as "secret shoppers." In each case, the perpetrators required the victims to send them funds through MoneyGram's money transfer system. Despite thousands of complaints by customers who were victims of fraud, MoneyGram failed to terminate agents that it knew were involved in scams.

Friday's announcement was the latest development in the federal prosecution of fraudulent practices. Last week Wells Fargo [corporate website] claimed [JURIST report] that a lawsuit filed by the US government to recover money from defective mortgages was barred by a previous settlement. In September a federal judge approved [JURIST report] a settlement agreement between the DOJ and certain e-book publishers in a price-fixing suit. In late July a federal court granted [JURIST report] an emergency order freezing the assets of foreign brokers accused of insider trading. Earlier that month, the DOJ and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline [corporate website] announced [JURIST report] a $3 billion dollar settlement in a series of criminal and civil healthcare fraud cases against the drug company.