michael ritter scandal - UPDATE!

Click here for the complete Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.

Yes, that's right, just in time for Christmas, we bring you an update on our good friend, the former Chief Legal Consel to the Alberta Legislature, Mr. Michael Ritter and his adventures in international money laundering (for backstory see here, here, here, here, and here).

It just keeps getting juicier and juicier!

It seems that the U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced Mr. Larry Toshio Osaki to 20 years in prison for his involvment in the $250-Million Ponzi scheme...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 16, 2005
UPLAND MAN WHO RAN $250 MILLION PONZI SCHEME GETS 20 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON Los Angeles, CA - A man who ran a gigantic Ponzi scheme and continued to offer bogus investments in accounts receivable "factoring" after being ordered to stop by a federal judge was sentenced this morning to 240 months in federal prison. Larry Toshio Osaki, 57, of Upland, was sentenced at the end of a 3 1/2-day hearing by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, who said the defendant "single-handedly caused huge loss and havoc." In addition to the prison term, Judge Wilson ordered Osaki to pay more than $145 million in restitution to victims. Osaki pleaded guilty on March 22, 2005 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, two counts of securities fraud, obstruction of justice and one count of money laundering. Osaki’s scheme cumulatively collected a quarter billion dollars from nearly 7,000 investors and caused $145 million in losses. That scheme started at his Pasadena company, J.T. Wallenbrock & Associates, and was continued with a second firm based in Edmonton, Canada. Read the rest here.