R.I. man gets probation in $27m scam
Defendant was 'a prop,' judge says
A Rhode Island man who pleaded guilty to participating in a pyramid scheme that bilked some 500 victims of $27 million was sentenced yesterday to probation by a federal judge who cited the defendant's ill health and testimony against two others convicted in the scam as mitigating circumstances.
Federal prosecutors had recommended that Christian Rochon, 57, of Warwick, R.I., serve a decade in prison for his role in the scheme that preyed predominantly on Cambodian immigrants.
But US District Judge Richard G. Stearns said he had wrestled with the matter and concluded that Rochon deserved a sentence of five years on probation, the first spent in home confinement.
The judge said Rochon had nothing to do with hatching the scheme and was largely "a prop" who did not even realize he was participating in a massive fraud until the scam began to unravel.
Stearns also credited Rochon for testifying against James Bunchan and Seng Tan, the couple who led the scheme. The judge also said he was convinced that Rochon - who has struggled with a heart condition, cancer, and other illnesses - would not survive prison. "I'm persuaded . . . that any period of incarceration would likely result in a death sentence," Stearns said.
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in a statement that although prosecutors sought a harsher sentence, they appreciated the "thoughtful consideration" the judge gave the recommendations of both sides and added that he respected Stearns's judgment.
Rochon, who stood with apparent difficulty as he faced Stearns before he was sentenced, apologized to the victims, some of whom lost their houses because of the fraud. "I'm very sorry for what happened to all of these people," he said.
Between October 2000 and November 2005, Bunchan and Tan told investors from Long Beach, Calif., to Lowell that their money was put into World Marketing Direct Selling Inc. and an affiliated company, One Universe Online Inc., with several offices in Massachusetts, prosecutors said.
Investors who contributed a minimum of $26,000 were promised monthly payments of $300 for life and a one-time sum of $2,600. But prosecutors presented evidence that the payouts, which were made for a limited time, came from investors' own principal or from money put up by other investors.
Bunchan and Tan spent more than $3 million of investors' money on Mississippi riverboat gambling trips and Las Vegas casinos, millions more on a Florida house and fancy cars, $23,000 on hairpieces, and $5,000 for tennis lessons, prosecutors said.
Bunchan and Tan were convicted last year of numerous fraud and conspiracy charges and received long prison sentences from Stearns, 35 years for Bunchan and 20 years for Tan.
Rochon's lawyer, James B. Krasnoo of Andover, said that Bunchan originally hired Rochon to repair his computers and then duped him into believing he would be a legitimate president of the enterprise. Only toward the end did Rochon realize the operation was involved in a monumental fraud, Krasnoo said.
Rochon received a company car and got a free trip to Las Vegas while working for the couple but did not lead a lavish lifestyle, Krasnoo said.
"His health is so bad that if he were sentenced to even a short period of time, it is likely he would die," Krasnoo said. 