Three men accused of defrauding investors out of $1.6 million in an apparent Ponzi scheme were sentenced Friday to prison terms ranging from two to four years in U.S. District Court.

Syed Qadri, 38, was sentenced to four years and three months as the apparent mastermind of the scheme. Ruben Carrillo Gonzales, 50, and Jeffrey Greenhut, 40, were sentenced to 41 months and 24 months, respectively, for their parts in the crime.

According to U.S. Attorney Flor­ence Naka­kuni, the men operated through Hono­lulu-based companies Amasse Capital and Solomon & Co. from January through September 2006. The two companies claimed to invest in high-yield bonds with minimal risk to investors. However, Naka­kuni told the court, money from recent investors was used to pay back earlier investors, with the remainder of the money going to Qadri.

Qadri acted as president and chief executive officer of Amasse. Gonzalez solicited investors as senior vice president of marketing for Amasse. Greenhut, Amasse’s chief operating officer, managed investor funds.

Each defendant was ordered to pay restitution to the victims. In addition, Qadri’s wife, 48-year-old Patricia Rosz­kow­ski, was sentenced to a month in prison for filing a fraudulent application with a local bank for a line of credit on behalf of Solomon & Co.

A news release from Naka­kuni said Qadri and Rosz­kow­ski lived in a luxurious Kahala home, bought several expensive exotic cars and leased an entire floor in a downtown office building while they operated the investment scheme.