Albania's Ponzi scheme boss jailed for hiding money

TIRANA, Albania – An Albanian court has sentenced a man for hiding stolen money in a Hungarian bank account to three years and eight months in jail.

The Tirana court sentenced Vehbi Alimuca for hiding $328,000, money he had collected from a failed pyramid investment scheme he operated until 1997.

Alimuca has already served eight years imprisonment after his Vefa company was found to have collected $325 million from 58,000 people via a Ponzi scheme. Albania had around two dozen such schemes and their exposure caused huge uproar in the small western Balkan country. Albania's population lost a huge chunk of their life savings.

Last November, his son was also sentenced to four years of jail for hiding almost double the amount his father was convicted for on Friday.