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Man fined, imprisoned for scam

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

James Williams of Sacramento was sentenced Monday in Las Vegas to 51 months in federal prison and fined $5.63 million after he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in an investment and securities fraud scheme based out of Las Vegas and Incline Village.

Williams, along with Trudy Anson and Rande Hersh, the owners of two Las Vegas companies Trans-World Investments Inc. and Trans-World International LLC, were accused of soliciting investors starting September 1998 to invest in a "non-existent high-yield investment program" and continued to sell unregistered securities despite a cease and desist order issued in May 1999 by the state securities division, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Anson pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2002 to felony charges of conspiracy and wire fraud and will be sentenced in Las Vegas on March 14. Hersh killed himself and his girlfriend in September 2002 in Los Angeles.

Osvaldo Fumo, Williams' attorney, described his client as a "minor player" in a $20 million investment scheme that defrauded more than 60 investors nationwide and globally.

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