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A corrupt “mini-Madoff” was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week — one year for each million he allegedly defrauded from his investors during a 30-year Ponzi scheme.
During his brief appearance in Federal Court last Thursday, Philip Barry, 53, said he was “profoundly sorry” for ruining so many lives — but he gave no excuses.
“I never intended or even expected anything like this to happen,” he said.
A jury convicted Barry of securities fraud and mail fraud last November for operating the large-scale scheme — in which he paid off older investors not from successful investments, but from capital from new investors.
Besides spending the next 20-years in prison, he will have to pay more than $24 million to the people he victimized.
Barry claimed to be investing in stock options, but investigators said he abandoned that practice early on, using the money to purchase land in Sullivan County. He also invested in a mail-order porn business.
Things spiraled out of control in 2007 when the market began to dip, and Barry’s investors wanted their money.
“Phil Barry is a thief,” Frances Monteleone, a nurse who lost $215,000 to Barry, said at the sentencing hearing. “Phil Barry stole my money. He also stole my future.”
©2011 Community Newspaper Group
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