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| (Copyright 2002, The New York Post. All Rights Reserved) |
A Brooklyn-born Army private who pretended he was a prince with connections to a fabulously wealthy African kingdom was found guilty yesterday of conning gullible investors out of millions.
Brian Sherry - who liked to be known as "Prince Brian" and "Col. Sherry" - sat stone faced, wearing a yarmulke, as the federal court jury in Manhattan handed down its guilty verdict on 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy.
Tears welled in the eyes of his wife, sitting next to his mom, as prosecutor Jay Musoff said Sherry faced a six-year sentence.
Sherry, 41, of Manhattan, was the self-described "administrator" of the so-called Badische Trust - a fictitious German investment house claiming exclusive rights over a $50 billion fortune in the make-believe "Kingdom of Mombessa" in the Congo.
With Badische chairman-turned-fugitive Robert Khimchiachvili and his stepbrother Christopher Berwick, Sherry was accused of taking more than $2.5 million in "advance fees" from investors who were promised loans of up to $500 million.