(August 13, 2008)--A former Dallas-area man who was convicted on 19 counts in a pyramid investment scheme has been sentenced to 17½ years in federal prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Dallas on Wednesday announced the sentence for James Ray Phipps, 60, who operated the scam from his Colleyville home.
Prosecutors say from 1998 to 006, Phipps received at least $25 million from more than 30,000 participants in his "Life Without Debt" system.
Investigators say more than 90 percent of the participants lost their funds.
Phipps was convicted of three counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, one count of corrupt endeavor to obstruct and impede the IRS and three counts of income tax evasion in 2007.
He was arrested in 2006 in Anniston, Ala., where prosecutors say he had moved to continue running the scheme.
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