Man sentenced in investor scam

A Southern California man who bilked investors worldwide out of $ 147 million in a pyramid scheme was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison.

Steve Chen, 63, of Bradbury in the San Gabriel Valley, was sentenced by U. S. District Judge John F. Walter, who said Chen’s “litany of lies” promoted a scam of “epic proportions,” according to a statement from the U. S. attorney’s office.

Chen owned U. S. Fine Investment Arts from 2013 to 2015. The f irm sold fake investments, “points” for shares when the company went public and a phony digital currency called “Gem Coins” that it claimed was backed by mines for amber and other gemstones in the U. S., the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Mexico, prosecutors said. The mines did not exist.

Some 72,000 victims invested. In the style of a classic pyramid scheme, some money was used to repay early investors, but most lost their money to Chen, authorities said.