An Arkansas man was sentenced on Friday to eight years and four months in prison for helping run what prosecutors called an $80 million Ponzi scheme involving automated teller machines that were never bought. Walter Netschi, 64, was sentenced by US District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan, the office of US Attorney Preet Bharara said. Griesa also ordered the defendant to forfeit $80 million and serve two years of supervised release.
The government said Netschi and co-defendant Vance Moore induced people to buy roughly 4,000 ATMs, promising the machines would generate fees from cash withdrawals, but that 90 percent of the ATMs did not exist or were never purchased.
Investigators said the fraud ran from 2005 to January 2008, and that the men used proceeds to enrich themselves and further their scheme. A federal jury convicted Netschi on November 12 of nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy after a three-week trial.
Moore had pleaded guilty the prior month to the same charges. He was sentenced in February to eight years and one month in prison. Beth Farber, a lawyer for Netschi, was not immediately available for comment. Prosecutors had requested a prison sentence of between 11 years and three months and 14 years for Netschi, reflecting federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory. The defendant's lawyer had requested three to five years. Netschi is a resident of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, Bharara's office said.
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