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By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER [email protected]
Saturday, July 02, 2005     Page: 1C

A Duryea man who pleaded guilty to a financial scam that targeted more than
100 investors was sentenced Thursday to 50 months in federal prison and
ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution.
   
Russ R. Luciano pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to
commit mail fraud in connection with a nearly four-year scam that federal
prosecutors said he and a co-defendant, John F. Turant Jr., operated through
several Wilkes-Barre-based businesses.
    Luciano and Turant were indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2002.
Prosecutors said the men told investors their money would be invested in two
hedge funds – a pool of money used to purchase various financial instruments.
In reality, prosecutors said the men invested only a portion of the money
collected, siphoning off other funds for personal use. They hid the fraud by
operating a “Ponzi” scheme in which they used funds from some investors to pay
off others.
   
Turant, of Wapwallopen, was sentenced in May to 84 months in federal prison
and was also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution for his role in the
scam. He had pleaded guilty last year to mail fraud and conspiracy to commit
mail fraud.
   
U.S. District Judge James Munley ordered Luciano to turn himself in on July
29. He also ordered Luciano to serve three years of supervised release
following completion of his sentence.