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SALT LAKE CITY — An appeals panel in Denver has affirmed federal fraud convictions for a Utah real estate investor who authorities say bilked investors out of more than $45 million.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Koerber's appeal in a ruling released Thursday. In Salt Lake City, Utah's top federal prosecutor said the outcome is a reminder that those running similar operations will be held to account.
Koerber, 48, duped investors "by creating a cult of personality and promising investors high returns with low risk," said acting United States Attorney Andrea T. Martinez, in a prepared statement. "This decision should remind potential fraudsters that they will be caught and punished, and should remind potential victims that promises of easy money and large returns on investment are too good to be true."
Prosecutors have described Koerber as the head of an elaborate Ponzi scheme who targeted fellow Latter-day Saints and claimed he was inspired by God.
Koerber maintained his innocence throughout the yearslong case, saying he ran a profitable business and didn't defraud anyone. Rather, he said he was singled out by bureaucrats angered by his radio show, "The Free Capitalist."
The appeals court rejected Koerber's constitutional arguments alleging violations of his rights to a speedy trial and against unreasonable search and seizure, as well as his claims that U.S. District Judge Frederic Block didn't remain neutral in the case.
Last year, Block denied Koerber's request for release from a low-security federal prison in California after he contracted COVID-19, saying Koerber did not experience complications from the illness.
A jury convicted Koerber in 2018 of 15 counts of wire fraud, fraud in the offer and sale of securities, and money laundering. He was acquitted on two tax evasion charges.
He was sentenced after a decade of court battles that included a dismissal, a mistrial and hearings before multiple judges who eventually removed themselves from Koerber's case. Block was called in from the federal bench in New York to oversee the trial that ended in Koerber's conviction.
Koerber's anticipated release date is in 2031.
