Peoria, Ill. – A LaJolla, California man, William Huber, 61, was ordered to serve 20 years in federal prison and was taken into custody at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing this afternoon in federal court in Peoria. Huber pled guilty in August to operating a multi-million dollar “Ponzi” fraud scheme for more than a decade in the Decatur area. U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade further ordered that Huber pay restitution of $23.6 million to the approximately 160 investors he defrauded from 1998 through 2009.

According to court documents, Huber was responsible for all aspects of Hubadex, Inc., an Illinois corporation with its main office in Forsyth, Illinois. Hubadex represented that it served as the general partner for two pooled investment funds, The Quarter Funds, L.P. and The Symmetry Fund, L.P., and for an investment club known as The Trimester Fund.

During the plea hearing on Aug. 10, 2010, Huber admitted that he did not invest clients’ funds as represented; rather, he engaged in a Ponzi-type scheme whereby clients who requested redemption, based on the falsely-inflated position of their investments, were paid with funds invested by other clients. Huber admitted that he diverted client funds to support a lavish lifestyle, paying personal expenses for himself and others. These expenses included mortgage payments and remodeling expenses for residences in La Jolla, California, and Naples, Florida.

Huber also admitted that he provided false and fraudulent information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. On Sept. 29, 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sought and obtained a civil injunction in the Northern District of Illinois that ordered Huber to cease his fraudulent actions, stop making misrepresentations to investors and freezing his assets. Further, the federal court appointed a receiver over Huber, Hubadex and the funds to marshal and preserve investor assets.

Agencies conducting the investigation included the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darilynn J. Knauss.