Former Indiana attorney gets 10 years for investment scam

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A former northern Indiana attorney who pleaded guilty to scamming elderly investors as part of a Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison.

Sven Eric Marshall was sentenced Tuesday to 121 months by a federal judge in South Bend who also ordered him to pay nearly $2 million in restitution, and also to forfeit $1.75 million, the South Bend Tribune reported.

The former South Bend attorney and certified public accountant pleaded guilty in 2019 to bank fraud, mail fraud and securities fraud. But his sentencing was delayed for years as prosecutors combed through boxes of previously undisclosed evidence.

Federal indictments and multiple lawsuits accused Marshall, who invested money on behalf of his clients, of paying back investors with money from other clients in a Ponzi scheme setup.

He also embezzled close to $2 million as a part of the scheme and from clients who hired him to administer their wills, funneling money into his private or company accounts.

Marshall was arrested in January 2019 in Clearwater, Florida.

His investment fraud scheme began unraveling in 2017 when his law license was suspended after he did not respond to a grievance made against him with the Indiana Supreme Court.

In addition to the punishments handed down Tuesday in his criminal case, Marshall has been ordered to pay more more than $2.5 million to clients as the result of civil lawsuits.