http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/...6/383086.aspConvicted con man Leslie John Hamilton persisted with claims of a setup, a government conspiracy and his innocence throughout a three-hour sentencing hearing Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller was having none of it.
"To the extent that you had any credibility, it's evaporated like alcohol on a hot street corner on a Saturday afternoon," Stadtmueller told Hamilton early in the proceedings.
Stadtmueller had the final word, too, when he sentenced Hamilton to 30 years in prison for "the largest fraud scheme ever perpetrated by one person in the Eastern District of Wisconsin."
The crime, a pyramid scheme disguised as investment in rare coins, victimized more than 300 people and netted Hamilton more than $10 million, according to statements made during the hearing. A jury convicted Hamilton of 28 counts of mail and wire fraud during an April 2005 trial.
According to the indictment, Hamilton told potential investors in Sheboygan and Milwaukee counties he was a master coin grader. He said he could buy coins for less than market value, then resell them for more. He promised people returns of 8% to 150% and solicited new investors through advertisements in small newspapers, sales agents and other investors.
From 1997 through 2001, Hamilton paid some of the investors, but the money did not come from coin sales. Rather, it came from new investments, the indictment says. He moved to Nevada in 1999, but most of his investors remained in Wisconsin.
In 2001, when he started running out of money, Hamilton told people he could no longer pay them because of an ongoing state and federal investigation, according to the indictment. He then told the people that in order for the coins to be sold, the coins would have to be evaluated by an independent coin grader so the authorities could not identify them. He solicited additional funds from the investors for that purpose.
The 30-year sentence, which Stadtmueller handed down after hearing testimonials from several of Hamilton's victims, was longer than the 20- to 25-year sentence that Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Kraft requested. A full gallery of victims, who had applauded Kraft's sentencing argument, breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard that Hamilton, 54, will spend his golden years in a federal prison.
Stadtmueller said he chose the long term of incarceration both to send a message to other con artists and to protect the public. Hamilton's failure to show remorse or to accept the truth also troubled Stadtmueller.
"I don't think you would recognize truth if it struck you in the side of the head with a baseball bat," the judge told the defendant.
Hamilton, who had asked that defense attorney Douglas Bihler be removed so he could represent himself, spent much of the hearing proclaiming his innocence.
In a September 2003 interview with the Journal Sentinel, Hamilton said he was running a legitimate business that was ruined by the malicious prosecution against him. Authorities went after him following his vocal opposition to changes in the tax law, he said.
Michelle Klos, 22, a Wisconsin investor, was among several victims who asked Stadtmueller to punish Hamilton severely. Klos said she, her father, her grandfather and her aunt and uncle were swindled by Hamilton.
"My father passed away last year and left us with nothing," she said, describing her elderly mother's paycheck-to-paycheck existence.
In addition to the prison term, Hamilton must serve three years of supervised release.
Posted 01/08/2006 12:55 am
