Jury convicts Vegas man in $1.5B Japan-US investment scheme
A 79-year-old former head of a Las Vegas and Tokyo investment firm is facing the rest of his life in a U.S. prison after a jury in Nevada found him guilty of bilking thousands of Japanese victims in what prosecutors called a $1.5 billion international Ponzi scheme. Edwin Fujinaga is due for sentencing March 8 following his conviction Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on all 20 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering he faced. Interim U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson said jurors took less than three hours to reach their verdict following a five-week trial. Prosecutors can seek up to 370 years in prison and a $5 million fine, and will ask Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro to order Fujinaga to surrender some $800 million, Elieson spokeswoman Trisha Young said Thursday.
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