This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Logan man to two years and four months in prison for his part in persuading about 45 victims to shell out $1.8 million on promises of high returns for investing in contracts for foreign oil tied to Iraqi dinars.
U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby also ordered Joshua Jay Hansen to pay $1.8 million in restitution. Hansen collaborated with another Logan man, John Scott Clark, in the fraud.
"They promised exorbitant returns, made blatantly false representations and concealed the fact Clark had a previous felony conviction," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Strain wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Hansen's role, according to the memo, was to act as a confidence man, stepping in to verify Clark's lies to skeptical investors.
Hansen and Clark targeted unsophisticated investors in Logan; Hansen told the investors that he was best friends with the president of the International Monetary Fund and had a special contract with the Department of Defense. He showed some of them a bank account statement in his name that showed a $4 billion balance.
Hansen and Clark spent all of the investor moneys, including for personal expenses, the memo says.
Hansen pleaded guilty to securities fraud.
Clark also pleaded guilty and was sentenced earlier this year to three years in prison. At the time of the scheme, Clark was on supervised release on his prior conviction in a New York gambling case.