Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COURTS : Businessman Sentenced to 18 Years for Fraud

The sentence was so stiff, it made the prosecutor blink.

For conviction of 30 counts of conspiracy and bank fraud, Victor Bagha, 43, of Orange was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. The prosecutor had asked, optimistically, for 15 years.

“This is definitely the longest sentence any of us can remember” for a white-collar crime, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Anita Dymant, who prosecuted the case.

Bagha “has richly earned a long-term commitment to a federal prison,” said U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler as she passed sentence. She said she “shudders at the prospect” of Bagha re-entering the business field.

According to the prosecution, Bagha, also known as Michael Victor Lousiano, defrauded two Los Angeles banks of $3 million. He told lenders he was going to build limousines for visitors to the 1984 Olympics, and while his firm, Nationwide Coach of Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, did build some, Bagha pocketed most of the money, prosecutors alleged.

Both Bagha and his business associate, John Marsella, 44, of Corona del Mar, were arrested last February by an FBI agent posing as a loan officer. Marsella was convicted of nine counts of conspiracy and bank fraud and is scheduled for sentencing next month.