California: 81-year-old sentenced to 28 years for $190m investment fraud

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An 81-year-old man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison in an investment scam that prosecutors say seeped across half the country and bilked 1,800 people, many of them elderly, of about $190 million). John Heath, who was convicted last month alongside his son Daniel Heath and another man, also was ordered to pay $117 million (€79 million) in restitution to the clients who invested directly through him. He dabbed at his eyes during the hearing Friday and left court in a wheelchair. Jurors found the three guilty of running a Ponzi scheme that funneled money from new investors to pay off people who had already pumped in cash. John Heath was convicted on 52 counts including grand theft, selling false securities and theft from the elderly.