Man Convicted in $10-Million Fraud

A Laguna Niguel man was convicted Thursday of bilking investors, most of them elderly Orange County residents, out of more than $10 million by selling them practically worthless oil and gas partnerships.

After deliberating for two days, a U.S. District Court jury in Santa Ana found Lance Van Alstyne, 34, guilty of engaging in a Ponzi scheme from 1992 to 1994.

Van Alstyne sold limited partnerships in operations that he claimed involved transportation of natural gas to utilities. In reality, the partnerships were set up to invest in oil and gas wells at much greater risk than he had disclosed. According to court testimony, Van Alstyne spent less than a third of the investors’ money on the wells while a substantial portion--more than $2.3 million--was spent on himself, and the rest on bogus interest payments to early investors.

Alstyne, who was taken into custody Thursday, is to be sentenced Oct. 15.