Prison and restitution ordered in Ponzi scheme

CLEVELAND

A man who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 200 people of some $9.3 million has been sentenced to five years and eight months in federal prison and ordered to make full restitution.

David J. Harriett, 61, of Medina, formerly of Howland, drew the sentence this afternoon from U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O’Malley, who allowed him to finish up to three months of cancer treatment before he must enter prison.

Harriett’s lawyer, Timothy F. Sweeney of Cleveland, asked the judge to put Harriett on house arrest and not send him to prison.

Sweeney said house arrest would enable Harriett to continue his treatment for terminal cancer at the Cleveland Clinic and to receive hospice care when he needs it.

Harriett, a former General Motors Lordstown executive, misrepresented to potential investors in the scheme that he had contracts to develop and build McDonald’s franchises. During the two-hour sentencing hearing, Bridget Brennan, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, called for a 63-to 78-month prison term for Harriett.

Brennan said Harriett promoted “one of the purest Ponzi schemes” she had ever seen and caused severe financial harm to “really hard-working people.”