Aurora man's Ponzi co-conspirator gets 6 years

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A federal judge in western New York has sentenced an investment fund manager to six years in prison for helping run a $33 million Ponzi scheme that cheated more than two dozen investors across the country.

John Montana, who's 57 and from Staten Island, was one of four people convicted of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges for the two-year scam from July 1999 to July 2001.

Gail Eldridge of Marietta, Ga., drew a 20-year sentence last month, Paul Knight of Kodak, Tenn., got 14 years on Wednesday and Mervyn Lyttle of Aurora, is awaiting sentencing.

Two of the 27 victims lived in Germany and Costa Rica and the others in New York, Florida, Mississippi, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, California and Washington state.