SOCHI, December 27 - RAPSI. A court sentenced a resident of Sochi to 8 years in prison for organizing a Ponzi scheme and stealing over $640,480 from local residents, the Krasnodar Regional prosecutor's office reported on Tuesday.

The court found that Antonina Bederina established the Kurgan Mutual Assistance company on February 17, 2005. The company scheme operated on the principle of an unsecured (on paper only) marketing network, so Bederina was able to use part of the funds to maintain the financial pyramid, while stealing the rest of the money.

Bederina attracted investors by promising to pay them a 200% return on their investment after two, three and four months. Bederina also extended her fraudulent investment scheme by paying an agent's fee to clients who drew new investors into the scheme. The agent's fee amounted to 10% of the sum invested by the new client.

Bederina also misled her customers by saying the company had a large stabilization fund which guaranteed a refund of their initial investments in case the company ran into unforeseen financial difficulties.

Bederina and her accomplices stole a total of 20 million rubles ($640,480) from the residents of Krasnodar Region.

Bederina and two of her accomplices have been found guilty of fraud. Bederina was sentenced to 8 years in prison while her accomplices were put on probation. The sentence has already come into force.