ST. LOUIS, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge in East St. Louis will rule next week on how to distribute $10 million to fraud victims of investment swindler James Gibson.
Many of Gibson's estimated 150 victims expect to get most of their money back following a tentative decision by area banks accused of allowing Gibson to squander $80 million in bonds to pay back the money, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Friday.
Full restitution would include $10 million in cash and bonds, leftovers of Gibson's assets, which will be distributed soon.
Gibson, currently doing a 22-year prison term, built a large business setting up trusts for accident victims who had won money through the courts. The trusts, funded with U.S. bonds, were supposed to supply a steady income to these people but Gibson secretly gained control of the assets when the bond market went down. When a business venture failed, he moved to Belize.
