Rick Van Vleet has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for operating a "fraudulent investment scheme" that netted the Fort Collins businessman nearly $3 million.

The Larimer County District Court, which sentenced Van Vleet this week, also ordered him to pay $2.99 million in restitution, Attorney General John Suthers announced Wednesday.

"This office remains committed to the investigation and aggressive prosecution of white- collar crime throughout Colorado," Suthers said in a news release. "These crimes typically inflict financial devastation upon good and hard-working citizens of Colorado and will not be tolerated."

Van Vleet pleaded guilty in November to a single investment fraud charge after he was arrested earlier in the year. Prosecutors accused him of pocketing money from investors - some of them senior citizens - intended for a venture that would allow customers to download MP3 files through retail kiosks.

Several charges were dropped after Van Vleet pleaded guilty.

According to the grand jury indictment, Van Vleet "made untrue statements of material fact about how he would invest and otherwise use investors' money."

Van Vleet faced up to 12 years in prison.

The businessman had raised an estimated $32 million to fund other ventures - including resorts in the South Pacific - over the years before filing for bankruptcy in 2006.