A Marietta man was sentenced Thursday to nearly eight years in prison for running a $110 million Ponzi scheme through which more than 400 people lost their investments.
John J. Woods, a former longtime executive at brokerage and investment bank Oppenheimer & Co., pleaded guilty in March to a single count of wire fraud. He had already been sued , alongside two companies he controlled, by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Woods, 59, will have to pay up to $49.6 million in restitution and spend three years under supervision once he’s released. The amount of restitution and payment terms have yet to be determined.
“I stand here in front of you very humbled and very remorseful,” Woods told a federal judge during a three-hour sentencing hearing in Atlanta. “I did not steal anything. I had all intentions of my clients making money.”
U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Geraghty acknowledged Woods’ decades of commitment to his family, charitable work and lack of criminal history. Her sentence was below the 10 years prosecutors asked for.