COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — Three men accused of bilking people out of more than $80 million lied about how they would invest the money, so it doesn't matter if investors knew it was risky, prosecutors said Thursday in their trial's closing arguments.
Timothy McQueen, the Rev. Joseph Brunson and Tony Pough of South Carolina face nearly 60 federal charges, including conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering. They called themselves the "3 Hebrew Boys" after the biblical tale of brothers who survived an inferno because of their faith.
Defense attorneys argued the three intended to honor the contracts or pay the money back. They said the three paid out more than $22 million to early investors, including several hundred debts paid off.
Jurors were expected to begin deliberating Friday. If convicted, they could be sentenced to decades in prison and pay millions in fines.
Prosecutors accuse the three of preying on debt-plagued investors to ensare them in a pyramid scheme, offering what they termed a ministry that would pay off their mortgages, car loans, or other debts, or pay dividends for life.
Despite a lack of financial training, they convinced at least 7,000 people — starting in late 2004 — that they knew the secret of how to make money on the foreign exchange market. However, they invested less than 0.01 percent of their collections there, prosecutors said.
Their operation was shut down in May 2007, and $17 million was seized.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore.
