LAS VEGAS (CN) - A Las Vegas attorney faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Thursday to helping a client launder $2.3 million from a $16 million online Ponzi scheme.
More than 1,400 people were victimized by the scam, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
R. Christopher Reade, 43, of North Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of laundering of monetary instruments. He could be fined up to $1.125 million at his May 2 sentencing.
Reade's client, Rick Young, claimed he could teach his own clients how to make money in foreign exchange trading. Young claimed "he had developed an automated trading program that traded according to his strategies simply by "'flipping a switch,'" the U.S. attorney said. He tool out "loans" from his sucker, promising them high yields, but it was a Ponzi scam, from which Young reaped $16 million, prosecutors said.
Young is serving 25 years in prison and has been ordered to pay $13.3 in restitution.
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