A Colorado man already serving time for a hedge fund scam was sentenced to an additional four years for an unrelated fraud he perpetuated while being prosecuted for the first.

Hamilton Bird, 46, was sentenced to four years in prison in Colorado Springs state court Wednesday after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud. He is already serving a 24-year prison term which he started almost two years ago.

Bird was charged with taking about $690,000 from investors on the pretext that he was investing in foreign currencies. Instead, he used the money for personal expenses and to pay other investors in Ponzi-scheme fashion.

The scheme lasted from January 2006 until September 2008 when he was handed the 24-year sentence for the earlier scam.

The fraud for which Bird was already convicted targeted investors at a Colorado Springs church for his hedge fund firm XL Capital Partners. Bird, Douglas Scott, the church’s pastor and a third principal, David Newton, collected about $24 million from 450 investors, according to prosecutors.

Scott was convicted and Newton pleaded guilty in the XL Capital fraud. At his trial, Scott painted Bird as the real mastermind.

Scott and Newton received probation, while Bird, who also pleaded guilty, got a prison term.

Go to Hamilton Bird mug shot

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