Sentencing hearing set in Ponzi case

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Kevin Harris

Staff report

CLEVELAND

A sentencing hearing has been set for 9:30 a.m. March 15 in Cleveland federal court for Kevin L. Harris of Warren, convicted of operating a $20 million Ponzi scheme out of a Parkman Road Northwest office building between 2006 and 2008.

The hearing will be in the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse, 801 Superior Ave. Judge Lesley Wells will preside over the hearing.

Sentencing guidelines call for Harris to receive about eight years in prison.

Harris, 45, pleaded guilty in Youngstown federal court in November to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Harris offered a rate of return of between 7 percent and 12 percent per month for investors in his foreign-currency- exchange business, known as ForEx.

Many of his approximately 100 investors were from Toronto, Ontario, and were recruited by a private marketing firm paid by Harris and his associates.

Other investors were from Ohio and elsewhere in the United States.

Harris, a 1983 Harding High School graduate, operated his business out of the former electrical workers union hall on Parkman Road Northwest.