SHREVEPORT, La. — Investors who lost more than $50 million doing business with convicted fraudster David deBerardinis will likely get only pennies on the dollar in restitution, court documents filed in federal court in Shreveport show.
deBerardinis, a Shreveport businessman, began serving a 15-year prison sentence last month after pleading guilty to running a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme over nearly a decade. Federal prosecutors said investors loaned deBerardinis money at double-digit interest rates, believing he was a middleman in lucrative energy trades. The statements investors received were total lies, federal prosecutors and civil attorneys said, and money from new investors paid back older investors or went to deBerardinis’ personal use.
A hearing was held this week in U.S. District Court for a federal judge to approve how much restitution individual investors are entitled to.
Net losses from those seeking restitution total approximately $51 million, but authorities said the assets they have seized from deBerardinis are a small fraction of that, so investors will get little beyond what deBerardinis paid them before the scheme unraveled.
“It’s a sad footnote to an already sad story of this whole sordid affair,” said Michael Long, whose late brother was a net loser on his investment. “I think everyone’s expectation was there…
