KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Tennessee man was sentenced to 71 months in prison after being convicted of running a $1.9 million Ponzi scheme, according to the United State’s Attorney.
According to court documents, Alcides Roman, 66, of Lebanon, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Roman defrauded victims in Kansas, New York, Texas, and in Canada by soliciting their participation in purportedly high-yield investment programs. In truth, these investment opportunities were fraudulent. Roman did not invest the funds and failed to redeem the investments upon the victims’ requests. Rather, he left the funds in bank accounts he controlled and used the money for his own and others’ benefit. Roman induced victims to make additional or larger investments by making payments to them, ostensibly as returns on investment. Those payments, however, were from the same victim’s prior principal investments or another victim’s investments…