(KNX 1070) - A Southern California married couple is going to federal prison for their role in a pyramid scheme that targeted Chinese-Americans.
Before being sentenced to 12 months and a day, the husband told the court he was deeply sorry for the pain he caused the victims.
His wife was sentenced to 20 months.
"His sentence was driven by the sentencing guidelines and their level of cooperation," Assistant US Attorney Ashwin Janakiram said.
He says the couple was initially solicited to invest in the scheme by others and continued to recruit other investors through face to face meetings and pitches – even after realizing it was fraudulent.
"They solicited more than $1.5 million or less than $3.5 million in investor money in this scheme," Janakiram said.
According to prosecutors, the scheme involved a series of Hong Kong-based companies that supposedly generated substantial profits from web-based children's educational courses.
In all, the scheme generated about $30 million from victims.
