Accountant Going to the Slammer

MANHATTAN (CN) - Westchester County accountant Laurence M. Brown on Wednesday was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Brown, 64, of Katonah, was a principal and general partners in an accounting firm in Armonk.

He and his partner induced at least 10 people to invest more than $2 million in a company that held a nonfunctioning gas pipeline in Tennessee, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in announcing the sentence.

"Brown took the vast majority of investor funds for his personal use, for his family and others," the prosecutors said. "Approximately $136,550 of investor money was used to make payments to other investors."

Brown pleaded guilty in September. The U.S. Attorney's Office did not say what became of Brown's partner.

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