Mercury Finance head serving time with Ryan

John Brincat shed tears when the judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison in May for his part in the biggest criminal corporate accounting fraud case in the Illinois history.

A pioneer in the sub-prime auto-lending industry, Brincat's demise touched off a chain reaction 10 years ago as sub-prime lending companies around the Chicago area fell like dominos.

When Wall Street heard the rumor that the books were cooked at Lake Forest-based Mercury Finance, $2 billion in market capitalization vanished in a day.

The swiftness of the capital implosion was unprecedented at the time.

Bringing the story up to date, in September the Lake Forest resident reported to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Oxford, Wis.

He is serving his time with former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who reported to the Oxford prison in November to serve his 6½-year sentence on corruption charges. Oxford is also where Dan Rostenkowski, a former member of the U.S. House of Representative from Chicago, spent his term.

Brincat is scheduled to be released May 26, 2016.