ORANGE COUNTY

Scam Artist Gets 10 Years: The former operator of a precious metals scam has been sentenced to almost 10 years in federal prison in a case that a judge in Los Angeles termed “almost the perfect crime.” Richard O. Kelly ran such a sophisticated operation through his Capital Trust Inc., based in Irvine, that it fooled 1,100 investors out of about $11.4 million. U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts, noting the sophisticated nature of the crime, sentenced Kelly on Thursday. Kelly, 59, now of Phoenix, was ordered to serve nine years and nine months in jail, five years of probation and instructed to pay another $500,000 in restitution. Kelly has already paid about $2.9 million in restitution.