(Host) A federal appeals court says an Essex Junction man was appropriately sentenced to eleven years in prison for defrauding investors in his marble business.
VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports
(Sneyd) John Byors was arrested almost four years ago and charged with bank fraud.
He was accused of soliciting more than $10 million from more than 100 investors to support his marble quarrying business.
But authorities say Byors spent most of the money on houses in Florida and Maine, horses and cars.
Byors agreed to plead guilty last year to 16 counts of fraud and money laundering.
Judge William Sessions sentenced Byors to 11 years. The sentence was based, in part, on the amount of money that investors lost and on obstruction of justice that Sessions ruled that Byors committed.
Byors appealed because he argued those factors shouldn’t have lengthened the sentence.
But in a ruling released late last month, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentence. The court says it complies with federal sentencing guidelines.
For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.