NY Businessman Gets 20 Years For Ponzi Scheme

CAROLYN THOMPSON

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Victims of a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme who wanted the man who robbed them severely punished got their wish Wednesday when a judge sentenced the 83-year-old businessman to a 20-year prison term.

"A hundred-fifty years ago we would have taken him out and hung him," said investor Carl Bell, 64, one of three victims who spoke at the sentencing of Richard Piccoli of Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo. About a dozen others looked on.

U.S. District Judge William Skretny rejected a defense request for a sentence that would give Piccoli hope that he would not die in prison, saying he ran a "shameful, disgraceful and rather ruthless Ponzi scheme" that bilked clients recruited largely through ads in Catholic newspapers, using clergy-member investors as references.

"You operated without a conscience. You are a wolf in sheep's clothing," the judge told the grandfatherly Piccoli, who walked slowly to the podium and put eyeglasses on before addressing the court.

"I know I'm going to jail, and I deserve it," said Piccoli, whose scheme lasted nearly 30 years. "I let so many people down."