DENVER (AP) — A Denver man who bilked investors out of $19 million in a Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
The Denver Post reported Friday that 72-year-old Daniel Rudden was sentenced for mail fraud and must pay restitution to his 175 victims.
Prosecutors say he ran a business called Financial Visions that helped families pay for funeral services by tapping into their life insurance policies. Rudden recruited investors and promised them 12 percent interest, but he fell behind on repaying them when the number of funeral homes using Financial Visions didn't grow.
He then started paying his oldest investors with money raised from new investors, and the scheme fell apart when he couldn't pay the interest or refund the original investments.