SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) - A former base commander for the California Army National Guard was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison for a $3 million Ponzi scheme.
Timothy Melvin Murphy, 70, of Orange, also was ordered to pay $2,953,758 in restitution to his two dozen victims, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Murphy pleaded guilty in April 2012 to mail fraud. He "guaranteed" his suckers annual returns of 12 percent through his Orange-based business, Capital Investors.
Murphy retired as a colonel. He was commanding officer of the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos. He didn't invest his victims' money at all, but used it to make Ponzi payments and spent it on his collection of classic cars, his mortgage, and at a weight-loss clinic, prosecutors said.
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