Philadelphia-area fund manager Joseph Forte has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi fraud, media reports said yesterday.

US District Judge Jan DuBois in Philadelphia today also ordered Mr Forte to pay $34.8 million in restitution. Mr Forte, 53, of Broomall, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering for a scheme that collected about $80 million from investors and paid returns to some using money contributed by others.

A number of Ponzi scheme frauds have come to light amid the financial turmoil of recent years, with the most dramatic instance being the scam perpetrated by Bernard Madoff, who has been jailed for a total of 150 years. His crimes have hit investors of private wealth management firms around the world. The frauds have prompted soul-searching in the wealth management sector about the need for more due diligence checks on investments and individuals.

Reports said that between 1996 and 2008, Mr Forte collected from almost 80 individuals, promising returns of 18 per cent to 38 per cent, prosecutors said. Forte consistently misrepresented the value of the investment partnership he operated out of his home and instructed an accountant to send quarterly statements based on his false trading, according to court papers.

In addition to paying himself millions of dollars in salaries and fees, Forte also induced Commerce Bank to loan him almost $500,000 by misrepresenting the value of Joseph Forte LP, prosecutors said.