NEW YORK (AP) — A Long Island attorney convicted in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 15 months to four years in prison.
Robert Cassandro was sentenced Tuesday after a two-month trial in Manhattan state Supreme Court.
The judge ordered him to repay $5.8 million to investors.
He was found guilty of first-degree scheme to defraud. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of grand larceny.
Cassandro operated the scheme for a decade.
Prosecutors say he obtained loans for at least $11 million from relatives and friends for construction of homes on Long Island. Prosecutors say instead he used the money on luxuries including a race horse.
Cassandro argued he made the investments in good faith but wasn’t able to repay the funds when the market crashed in 2007.
