ROCHESTER — Three people have been found guilty of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked more than two dozen investors in the United States, Germany and Costa Rica out of $33 million.
After a four-week trial in federal court in Rochester, a jury convicted Gail Eldridge, Paul Knight and John Montana of 13 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering for running the investment scam from July 1999 to July 2001.
Each of the 27 victims lost at least $1 million.
Two lived in Germany and Costa Rica and the others in New York, Florida, Mississippi, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, California and Washington state.
None of the money was recovered, but the jury determined Wednesday after two days of deliberations that the defendants must forfeit more than $22 million in property and cash, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret Puschek said in a telephone interview.
Eldridge, of Marietta, Ga., and Knight, of Kodak, Tenn., could get up to 260 years in prison at sentencing in January — or 20 years for each count in the 2004 indictment.
Montana, of the New York borough of Staten Island, could be imprisoned for up to 180 years.
The case was decided in Rochester because two victims, a father and son, lived in the suburb of Hilton.
A fourth defendant, Melvyn Lyttle, of Aurora, Ill., is undergoing a mental competency examination and will be tried separately, Puschek said.
The scheme promoted a secret “high yield investment program” involving the world’s largest banks that falsely promised investors extraordinarily high rates of return — yields as high as 30 percent a week.
As part of the conspiracy, investors were told their money would be pooled with hundreds of millions of dollars Lyttle had access to in Russia, according to the grand jury indictment papers.
About $20 million was returned to investors who complained about their losses or threatened legal action, while others were lulled by false promises and threats of $5 million forfeitures into maintaining their investments and agreeing not to contact law enforcement authorities.
Each of the 27 victims lost at least $1 million.
Two lived in Germany and Costa Rica and the others in New York, Florida, Mississippi, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, California and Washington state.
None of the money was recovered, but the jury determined Wednesday after two days of deliberations that the defendants must forfeit more than $22 million in property and cash, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret Puschek said in a telephone interview.
Eldridge, of Marietta, Ga., and Knight, of Kodak, Tenn., could get up to 260 years in prison at sentencing in January — or 20 years for each count in the 2004 indictment.
Montana, of the New York borough of Staten Island, could be imprisoned for up to 180 years.
The case was decided in Rochester because two victims, a father and son, lived in the suburb of Hilton.
A fourth defendant, Melvyn Lyttle, of Aurora, Ill., is undergoing a mental competency examination and will be tried separately, Puschek said.
The scheme promoted a secret “high yield investment program” involving the world’s largest banks that falsely promised investors extraordinarily high rates of return — yields as high as 30 percent a week.
As part of the conspiracy, investors were told their money would be pooled with hundreds of millions of dollars Lyttle had access to in Russia, according to the grand jury indictment papers.
About $20 million was returned to investors who complained about their losses or threatened legal action, while others were lulled by false promises and threats of $5 million forfeitures into maintaining their investments and agreeing not to contact law enforcement authorities.
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