NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Virginia Beach man has pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and fraudulently collecting federal unemployment benefits.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Ronald A. Smith faces a maximum term of 60 years in prison.
Smith left prison in 2012 after serving seven years for an internet-based loan scam that he and his wife used to net millions.
Court records say the former accountant created a new business similar to the one that landed him in prison. This time his business partner was his new wife. Smith and his wife, Terri Beth Miller, were arrested in August.
They were charged with conducting a scam investigators said collected almost $1.3 million from about 1,700 customers.
In his earlier fraud case, Smith and his former wife, Denise Kirkland, ran a similar business that they used to cheat more than 1,000 customers out of about $2.75 million. Both pleaded guilty. Smith was sentenced to seven years, and Kirkland to three.
