$44 Million Seized in Nationwide Book Publishing Scam Targeting Elderly Authors

According to the indictment and accompanying press release, PageTurner was registered in Chula Vista, with Gemma Traya Austin named as organizer and registered agent in the United States. At the same time, Michael Cris Traya Sordilla and Bryan Navales Tarosa held senior roles at Innocentrix. This Cebu-based business process outsourcing company supplied the call center staff and sales structure behind the pitches to writers. Prosecutors say this arrangement allowed the operation to present a domestic corporate face and United States bank accounts while running the day-to-day sales activity from overseas, a pattern that mirrors other Philippine-based author service scams documented by long-standing publishing watchdogs.

Court filings and independent investigations describe a standard entry point. Authors received unsolicited calls, emails, or social media messages from representatives who used American-sounding names, often referencing a real book the writer had self-published or previously placed with a subsidy press. The caller claimed that a traditional publisher, film studio, or streaming platform had already flagged the book for acquisition or adaptation, and that PageTurner served as the intermediary that could shepherd the project into a contract. Writers were told that the window was narrow and that failing to respond promptly could cause the purported offer to lapse, thereby creating pressure to remain on the call and agree to an initial package.

Once an author was engaged, the sales process became a sequence of escalating fees. Documents filed in the Southern District of California and detailed reporting by advocacy groups describe a menu that included republishing packages, book fair displays, paid endorsements, tax and transaction clearances, film pitch decks, screenplay adaptations, and public relations campaigns, often priced in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per step. In many cases, the offers were backed by forged letters, contracts, or mock-ups bearing the logos and visual identities of real publishers and entertainment companies, which made the scheme harder to distinguish from legitimate subsidiary-rights activity for authors without direct industry experience.

The financial harm was rarely confined to a single payment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has told the court that it has identified payments from approximately 800 potential victims, with total losses approaching $44 million, and that many authors sent money in multiple transactions over extended periods. Case files compiled by author advocates show that many writers lost sums in the low- to mid-five-figure range, while some elderly authors and retirees paid significantly more because fresh requirements appeared whenever they asked when their book deal or film project would close. One documented victim spent more than half a million dollars on republishing, marketing, and a purported film production package centered on a single title. For authors living on pensions or fixed income, losses at this scale can erase retirement savings and leave minimal margin for housing, healthcare, or future writing work.

The government’s complaints and supporting materials describe the case as complex financial fraud and deceptive marketing. Investigators say PageTurner and Innocentrix relied on a web of United States and international bank accounts, some in Austin’s name and others in the names of related entities, to receive author funds, move proceeds offshore, issue partial refunds, and pay small amounts of royalties that reinforced the impression of a real publishing relationship. A superseding indictment later added an additional domestic defendant and a related business, and seeks forfeiture of real estate, vehicles, cash, and bank balances alleged to be traceable to the conduct at issue, along with millions already seized.

As of late 2025, Austin, Sordilla, and Tarosa remain in custody following their arrests in December 2024 in San Diego and Chula Vista. They are charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h), each count carrying a potential maximum sentence of twenty years in prison and substantial fines if the government proves its case. The court has designated the matter as complex due to the number of victims, the scope of the alleged conduct, and the volume of discovery, including extensive financial records and testimony from affected authors. Pretrial hearings have already been rescheduled more than once as both sides work through that material.

Even if PageTurner results in convictions, it remains part of a broader ecosystem that has been growing for more than a decade. Publishing watchdogs have documented a cluster of Philippine-based operations that present themselves as publishers, literary agencies, publicists, or film shopping services and that cycle through hundreds of trade names to evade complaints and negative reviews. These outfits share a playbook. They scrape contact information and book data from online retailers and print-on-demand platforms, harvest authors who have already shown a willingness to self-fund their projects, and then approach them with unsolicited offers linked to respected imprints, major retailers, or streaming brands. When a name becomes too tainted to attract new business, they retire the site and move the same staff and scripts under a new label.

For working writers, the central lesson of the PageTurner case is that the shape of the offer matters far more than the polish of the sales pitch. Legitimate publishers, scouts, and producers typically do not cold-call authors with ready-made deals, and they do not require hefty upfront fees for tax payments, accelerated distribution, or access to closed-book fairs and film markets. They acquire rights and then cover their own costs from downstream revenue. Real companies also have verifiable histories, identifiable personnel, and a consistent public record. Their email domains match their corporate identity, their names can be confirmed in established trade sources, and their contracts withstand scrutiny from an independent publishing or entertainment lawyer who is not tied to the deal.

If an author receives an approach that promises a retail relaunch, global marketing, or a book-to-film path in exchange for fees, simple due diligence can reduce the risk of falling into a similar trap. The writer may contact the publisher, studio, or streaming service named in the pitch through its official channels to confirm whether the project is genuine. The writer can review current scam alerts from organizations such as the Authors Guild, Writer Beware, and the fraud warning pages maintained by major trade houses to determine whether the entity has already been identified in complaints. The writer can pause before paying any money, ask for concrete evidence of past deals closed by the company, and seek a contract review from a lawyer or union that represents authors. In many cases, these straightforward steps are sufficient to establish that the purported intermediary has no track record and no real leverage with the brands it purports to represent.

For those who suspect they have already been targeted or harmed, the PageTurner filings also underscore the value of reporting. Victims and potential victims of this operation may email the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the address listed in the indictment and related public notices, and residents over 60 who have suffered financial fraud may call the National Elder Fraud Hotline for assistance with next steps. They can also file reports with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center, state attorneys general, postal inspectors, and consumer protection agencies, providing copies of contracts, payment records, and correspondence, which gives investigators a more complete view of the conduct and helps establish patterns that are often invisible in a single complaint.

The defendants in the PageTurner case are presumed innocent unless and until the government proves otherwise. At the same time, the scale of the alleged losses and the level of detail in the public court record have already made this indictment a reference point for anyone writing, teaching, or advising on the subject of publishing scams and vanity presses. Read closely, it shows how a well-organized fee-based operation can mimic the surface of a modern rights deal, drain large sums from hopeful authors, and still leave very little behind in terms of real distribution, marketing, or adaptation work. For writers, the safest response to a surprising offer is not excitement but methodical verification, and a standing rule that any opportunity that depends on quick, substantial payments from the author deserves hard questions before a single dollar moves.