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Ohioan who fled US gets 20 years in prison for Ponzi scheme

AKRON, Ohio – A man who spent more than a decade as a fugitive has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for charges related to a Ponzi scheme that victimized hundreds of investors.

A judge sentenced Eric Bartoli on Wednesday in Akron. He had pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy and fraud charges.

His attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Prosecutors say Bartoli and his co-conspirators swindled U.S. and Latin America investors by selling them $65 million in unregistered securities.

Bartoli fled the country after failing to appear at a 1999 hearing regarding a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was indicted in 2003.

Peruvian police arrested Bartoli in 2013, two years after U.S. authorities sought to extradite him. Authorities brought him back to the U.S. last year.

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