AKRON (AP) - 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 said Eric Bartoli and his co-conspirators swindled U.S. and Latin America investors by selling them $65 million in unregistered securities. Bartoli fled the country, was arrested by Peruvian police in 2013, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in the U.S. in 2016.
He challenged his sentence with several claims, including that it was unreasonably long and that the court gave too much weight to how his actions affected victims and too little consideration to 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.
