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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- A Cedar Hills man has been sentenced to 121/4 years in federal prison for defrauding investors of more than 25 (M) million dollars in what prosecutors say was a traditional Ponzi scheme.
Sixty-seven-year-old Richard Barlow pleaded guilty in August to two counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion.
A federal judge yesterday also ordered Barlow to pay almost 21 (M) million dollars to victims in the case, many of whom were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Barlow said yesterday that he never intended to defraud the more than 600 investors, but that he relied on his faith when making investment decisions, and was misled.
Prosecutors said Barlow used funds from later investors to pay off earlier ones.
He also allegedly transferred investor funds to a construction company owned by Barlow's relatives, where the money was used to build several private homes. Investor money was also used to fund a car lot in Texas for one of Barlow's sons.
Barlow has not filed a federal tax return since 1989.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
