AKRON, Ohio – A federal appeals court has affirmed an Ohio ex-fugitive's 20-year prison sentence for a Ponzi scheme that victimized hundreds of investors in the 1990s.
Prosecutors say Eric Bartoli and co-conspirators swindled U.S. and Latin America investors by selling them $65 million in unregistered securities. Bartoli fled, was arrested by Peruvian police and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in the U.S. in 2016.
He challenged his sentence with claims, including that it was unreasonably long and that too much weight was given to how his actions affected victims and not enough to his acceptance of responsibility.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the sentence Friday.
Bartoli's attorney says that they were disappointed in the ruling and will be evaluating whether to pursue the case further.
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