Man gets 10 years in prison for $70M Ponzi scheme tied to mobile-billboard advertising

Man gets 10 years for role in $70M Ponzi scheme

RALEIGH, N.C. — A 63-year-old man has been sentenced in North Carolina to 10 years in prison for his role in a $70 million Ponzi scheme and for skipping out on for his criminal trial.

U.S. Attorney George Holding announced Wednesday that Michael Young also must pay more than $45 million in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud. Young was in Dubai when his trial was to begin in 2008.

Young was president of Mobile Billboard of America and the last of six defendants to be sentenced.

Prosecutors said the operation promised investors guaranteed monthly checks from advertising revenue on traveling billboards.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the company in 2004. Investigators found no billboards on sides of trucks.