Ponzi schemer dies in prison

Arthur Nadel, a onetime prominent Sarasota financier convicted of a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $162 million, has died in a North Carolina prison. He was 79.

Nadel pleaded guilty to 15 federal fraud charges in 2010, and was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison. Federal prosecutors had requested a 24-year prison sentence, while Nadel's defense attorney sought a five-year sentence. Nadel's attorneys said at sentencing that anything much longer would be a death sentence.

Nadel, who had heart problems over the past few years, died Monday at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.

The case to recoup money for Nadel's victims will continue. The court appointed receiver in the case, Tampa attorney Burt Wiand, has been tracking down ill-gotten gains for more than two years.