Smith’s prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. Smith was also fined $100,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $3,588,500.

Smith, along with his co-defendant Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, convinced his victims to invest $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds. The bonds, issued by the former Republic of China before it lost power in 1949, are worthless, despite Smith’s promises that the bonds would produce exponential returns in a short period of time.

Read the full article from the Shreveport Times.