Ponzi scheme operator sentenced to 4 years in prison
Jason Pascua is seen in this 2007 photo. At the time he was vice president and director of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce and marketing chairman for the first A Taste of Kalihi event.
A federal judge sentenced a 39-year-old man this afternoon to a four-year prison term for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 30 victims of more than $1 million.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi also ordered Jason Pascua to pay $1 million in restitution to the victims.
Pascua, a state House candidate from Kaneohe in 2010 and a former president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, was ordered to surrender at a federal prison on Oct. 24 to start serving his sentence.
Pascua pleaded guilty earlier this year to a wire fraud charge in connection with his Ponzi scheme.
