Convicted for fraud and money laundering earlier this year for operating a long-running investment scheme, a Calgary man has now been sentenced to four and a half years in jail.

In July, David Del Bianco was found guilty of one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of money laundering in connection with a “legal insurance” scheme that allegedly took over $500,000 from investors.

Del Bianco was charged after an investigation by Alberta’s Joint Serious Offences Team (JSOT), an enforcement partnership of the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC), the RCMP’s Integrated Market Enforcement Team, and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service.

According to the ASC, “Del Bianco ran and promoted an investment purporting to be a legal services insurance company, marketed under the name Equal Rights. In reality, it was nothing but a scheme.”

“This was a fraud in its entirety that preyed upon people’s dreams of financial freedom in order to support Mr. Del Bianco’s day-to-day living,” the court said in its ruling convicting him. “It was a shameful and cruel deception.”

Now, Del Bianco has been sentenced to four and half years on the fraud count, with credit for 159 days of time served; and to one year for money laundering, to be served concurrently.

He was also ordered to pay $229,138 in restitution to seven investors, and was banned for 10 years from holding any position that involves authority over the property or money of any other person.

In his sentencing decision, Justice N.E. Devlin of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta described the case: “An utterly remorseless fraudster continued with a scheme he had repeatedly been told was unlawful, causing profound harm to a highly vulnerable set of victims.”

Del Bianco was first sanctioned by the ASC back in 2002 in connection with the same scheme. It initially banned him for four years and fined him $10,000. Then in 2008, he was convicted on 10 counts of breaching previous orders of the ASC.

“Despite previous enforcement actions by the Alberta Securities Commission, David Del Bianco has continued to spin his web of lies to innocent, trusting people,” said Cynthia Campbell, director of enforcement with the ASC, in a release. “Del Bianco’s deceits have caused significant financial and psychological harm to his victims.”

“The ASC, through our JSOT partnership, is committed to holding Del Bianco and others who repeatedly prey on investors accountable through the criminal courts,” she added.