JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – A federal judge refused to release from prison the man convicted in the largest Ponzi scheme in the state of Mississippi.
According to the Clarion Ledger, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves said that although Arthur Lamar Adams may be at a higher risk of COVID-19, it wasn’t enough to justify his release considering the seriousness of his crime.
Adams, 61, was sentenced in 2018 to 19 and a half years in prison for the $100 million scam. His company claimed to buy timber rights from landowners and then sold them for higher prices to lumber mills. He defrauded up to 300 investors, including U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
In May, Adams filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Jackson seeking to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic. Adams is serving his sentence at the Forrest City Low Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas.
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