More than $1 million in restitution payments are being distributed to mostly elderly victims who each lost between $10, 000 and $100, 000 in an investment scam, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced.
After filing charges against Janet and Ronald Reiswig, prosecutors froze the defendants' assets with the eventual goal of obtaining restitution for the victims, Dumanis said.
Just over $1 million in restitution was obtained, representing about 56 percent of the victims' investment in the scam, Dumanis said. Janet Reiswig pleaded guilty to cheating investors out of about $1.8 million by selling phony certificates of deposit and was sentenced to 14 years and four months in prison, which includes a sentence in a separate case from Orange County.
Her husband pleaded guilty in the Orange County case to stealing more than $563, 000 from an elderly widow and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Authorities said the Reiswigs promised interest rates slightly higher than those offered by banks and other financial institutions.
Instead of investing the money, the couple deposited it in their own bank account and spent some of it on themselves, prosecutors said.
The couple -- who had offices in Rancho Bernardo and La Jolla -- spent $800, 000 in 11 months on items that included a motor home and two cars, according to prosecutors.