Jury convicts 2 men in $4 million fraud scheme

June 27, 2009 12:53 pm

— TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted two men in a $4 million money laundering conspiracy and investment fraud case.

After a two-week trial, the jury returned the verdict yesterday against 61-year-old Joseph L. Thornburgh of Mounds and 59-year-old Steven Fishman of Corona, Calif. The two men had been indicted in November 2007.

U.S. Attorney David O'Meilia says the fraud involved the sale of 19th-century railroad bonds and obscure 100-year-old Chinese bonds to more than 400 investors, many of whom were sheep farmers in New Zealand.

Fishman and Thornburg had been charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.