The Ataris’ former bassist, Mike Davenport, has found himself in a bit of hot water and is currently facing a 30 year prison sentence over a prolonged telemarketing scam that netted him close to $34m AUD in ill-gotten cash.

As the Santa Barbara Independent reported, Davenport, who was a member of The Ataris from 1998 to 2005 and participated in 2013-2014 reunion shows, is facing a number of charges, including wire fraud and mail fraud, after being accused of cheating over 100,000 people out of $27m USD.

Davnport, 49, and Cynthia Rawlinson, 51, allegedly engaged in this behaviour from 2009 until 2016.

According to the charges laid against them, Davenport and Rawlinson, operated a telemarketing business which placed ads on US classifieds site Craiglist offering affordable “pre-foreclosure” houses. When people responded to the ad, they were charged a $199 fee to access information about the property.

The pair then allegedly told enquiring customers they “could purchase the houses by simply taking over the homeowners’ mortgage payments, and the deeds to these homes would then be transferred into the customers’ names.”

Prosecutors argue that not only were these houses not for sale, but that when customers asked for their money back, Davenport and Rawlinson would ask for excessive amounts of documentation, at which point customers were told they had to wait up to 90 days for a refund. Prosecutors argue that even then, refunds weren’t given, and that the pair continued this activity until two of the company’s locations were raided by the FBI in October of 2016.

Both Mike Davenport and Cynthia Rawlinson were arrested in December of 2017. At the time of his arrest, Davenport reportedly had $104,000 USD on his person, and another $850,000 in his personal bank accounts.

Both are scheduled to appear before the courts tomorrow for charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of mail fraud. If convicted, they can face up to 30 years in jail.

Check out The Atari’s cover of Don Henley’s ‘Boys Of Summer’:

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