A Long Island investment manager has been given a 25 year prison sentence for running a $400mn Ponzi.  The scheme revolved around investments used to purportedly fund short-term commercial loans. Nicholas Cosmo, owner and president of Agape World Inc. and Agape Merchant Advance LLC, allegedly told investors that he would use their money to fund short-term, secured bridge loans to small businesses. Second Fraud-Related Conviction. Media accounts dubbed Cosmo a "mini-Madoff" following his arrest in January 2009, because of the similarity of his scheme to that of New York investment manager Bernard Madoff's multi-billion-dollar swindle, which had been discovered only weeks earlier. He assured investors that the loans would generate rates of return of up to 80%. Cosmo defrauded more than 4,000 investors out of more than $195mn as part of the fraud, prosecutors said. Cosmo admitted to using about $80 million in investor funds to perform unauthorized trades in commodities and futures markets. Prosecutors said he also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars without permission to fund a lavish lifestyle -- including hotel rooms, limousine rides and jewelry purchases -- and to pay Agape brokers for bringing in new clients. Cosmo, 40, previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud and wire fraud in October 2010. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley also ordered him to pay $409.3mn in forfeiture. "Those who lie and steal from the investing public are on notice that they face severe penalties," said Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn.   [WS Journal, 10/14/11]