Charles Ponzi, for the scheme named after him, received a sentence of five years. Ponzi's sentence was given after he pleaded guilty in 1920 to one count of mail fraud.  More recently Bernie Madoff received a 150- year sentence after a plea for activities related to a Ponzi scheme.  Another recent Ponzi scheme netted the defendant a 100-year sentence (see here).  This past week there is another sentence to add to the list of long sentences for Ponzi schemes. Tom Petters received a sentence of 50 years.  See Annalyn Censky, CCN, Tom Petters gets 50 years for Ponzi scheme;David Phelps & Dan Browning, StarTribune,com, Tom Petters is sentenced to 50 years in prison

(esp)