Okun receives 100-year sentence in $126 million fraud case

After tears, muffled sobs and declarations of dreams lost, victims of Edward Hugh Okun found some justice yesterday when a federal judge sentenced the Miami businessman to 100 years in prison.

Okun, 58, dressed in two-tone, gray-striped prison garb at the sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Richmond, showed no reaction.

Nor did he comment when Judge Robert E. Payne asked if he had anything to say about the $126 million fraud he and others orchestrated.

"We need to provide a measure of justice for these victims," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Dry said during the hearing. "He's never looked at his victims and said, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry my greed destroyed your lives.'"

Victims who were in the courtroom said justice was served, but some said they wished the sentence matched that of financier Bernard Madoff, who got 150 years for his part in a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

"This man will never hurt anybody else," Bonnie Schloss of Silver Spring, Md., who lost $335,000, said of Okun.

Okun was convicted in March on 23 counts of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, bulk-cash smuggling, and perjury.

"It's been a very long and trying time for the victims," said Hampton Ward of Atlanta, who lost $3.34 million. "I think it's good we're getting that part behind us."

Prosecutors asked for a 400-year sentence. Okun's attorneys requested 10 to 15 years and said even a 20-year sentence could equate to a life sentence for their client, who had a triple coronary bypass at age 39.

"It will ensure Mr. Okun can do no harm to people ever again, ever again," Payne said. "It will promote respect for the law. It will, I think, deter those who . . . are tempted by the presence of easy money."

As owner of Richmond-based The 1031 Tax Group LLP and several subsidiaries, Okun was able to steal money from customers who entrusted large sums to the companies to take advantage of a government-sanctioned way of deferring capital-gains taxes.

Authorities said Okun raided customer accounts to fund his lavish lifestyle and business expenses. He owned houses, condominiums, a yacht, several cars and even a helicopter.

"The toll of human loss, of misery and suffering that Mr. Okun's unbridled greed caused, is enormous," said Payne, who also ordered Okun to forfeit $40 million.

Okun's attorney, Barry J. Pollack, asked that the sentence not be based on emotion or symbolism. "I'm not asking the court to impose a light sentence," he said. "I'm asking to impose a just sentence."

Pollack, who had no comment on the decision, also advised his client not to speak.

"Mr. Okun has not accepted responsibility in the traditional way," he said. "He has his own view of the facts."

But eight of his victims did testify and shared how their worlds imploded after they discovered their money had vanished.

One suffered a stroke; another had a heart attack. Many were swindled out of their life savings, and all confessed to losing their faith in people.

Asked what she lost, Darlin' Boudreau, who came from her home in Washington state for the sentencing, knew down to the penny: $482,222.03.

Others had more complicated responses.

"There's more things that can't be calculated," said California resident Candace Graham, who is owed $3.1 million. "Who can calculate the sleepless nights? Who can calculate the fear of losing your home? Who can calculate the anxiety attacks?"

"It's all gone because one sociopath wanted to steal so that he could have a lavish lifestyle, and he still remains unapologetic," Graham said.

Okun's first wife, Carol May, also testified about when the two were married and living in Canada. She was 20 when they met; Okun was 24.

As time went on, he became angry, erratic and moody, she said. May's father lost $150,000 he had invested with Okun. When the two divorced and Okun fled Canada, she was left owing $1.5 million to creditors because she unknowingly had guaranteed the debt.

May heard of his conviction this year.

"It just seemed like an enlargement of what happened to me," she said. "He had a bigger boat, a bigger house, had gotten more fraudulent."

Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or .