Mastermind of Internet fraud, Gets 10
years in U.S. jail
A former Edmonton, Canada, man,
the self-acknowledged mastermind behind an international scheme that
bilked 15,000 investors of nearly $60 million US, was sentenced Friday
to 10 years in U.S. federal prison.
Alyn Richard Waage, 58, also formerly of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and
San José, Costa Rica, created Tri-West Investment Club in mid-1999,
which grew to what prosecutors called one of the largest Internet
investment frauds in the United States.
He was the last person in custody to be sentenced in the case, after
pleading guilty in May to mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to
commit money-laundering.
Prosecutors said the investment club was nothing more than a vast Ponzi
scheme, where money from new investors went to pay older investors from
around the world who were guaranteed a high return at no risk. Investors
were required to put down $1,000 and were promised a 120-per-cent
return.
Investors' money also was used to buy property in Mexico and Costa Rica,
as well as a yacht, helicopter and numerous cars.
Millions of dollars was siphoned off into fake corporations set up in
Costa Rica, or secreted as cash and property in Latvia and Mexico.
The pyramid scheme collapsed in September 2001 when Costa Rican
authorities, co-operating with U.S. investigators, froze the assets and
arrested Waage and Michael Webb, the Internet web designer.
The pair was extradited to the U.S. in December 2002 and Webb has since
been sentenced to nearly five years in prison.
Waage's son, Cary, who also used to live in Edmonton, is serving more
than four years in prison on mail-fraud and money-laundering
convictions. Keith Nordick, formerly of Englefeld, Sask., another
conspirator, is serving nearly 5˝ years in prison.
Two other Canadians, Alyn Waage's sister, Lynn Waage Johnston, and Evan
Theodore Smith Pryor, have also been charged but remain at large.
Send this Page To a Friend
|
|
