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A West Jordan businessman and his cousin have pleaded guilty in connection with a Ponzi scheme that raised more than $140 million from more than 600 investors.

Wayne LeMar Palmer, 60, of West Jordan — owner of National Note of Utah — pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to wire fraud and money laundering. He was indicted in 2015 on 48 counts that included wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.

Julieann Palmer Martin, 47, also of West Jordan, was indicted for wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering counts. As Palmer's bookkeeper, she pleaded guilty to having knowledge of the fraud and not reporting it to authorities.

Sentencing for both defendants is set for Sept. 11 before Judge Clark Waddoups.

Palmer's plea agreement includes a stipulated prison sentence of zero to 120 months. He also agreed to forfeit $290,000.

Martin's plea agreement includes a stipulated prison sentence of zero to 24 months.

The agreed upon sentences are subject to court approval, and the amount of restitution will be determined at sentencing, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

As part of his plea agreement, Palmer admitted that from 2009 through June 2012, he solicited people to invest in National Note of Utah's (NNU) business of loaning funds to real estate based companies.

He admitted to falsely representing that investments in NNU were safe and guaranteed, and that the company generated sufficient income to pay investors a 12 percent annual return, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Palmer also admitted he failed to inform investors that NNU had insufficient operating revenues to pay investors and operating expenses. He also admitted he failed to inform investors that new investor funds were being used, in part, to pay prior investors' return of principal and interest payments.

While the fraud scheme raised more than $140 million from 600 investors, some of the money was used to make payments to earlier investors. Prosecutors believe the actual loss in the case is approximately $60 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Martin, who was employed as a NNU bookkeeper from 1995 until a receiver took it over in 2012, admitted to being the primary contact person for investors and prospective investors when Palmer was not available.

Because she monitored two NNU bank accounts, she knew whether NNU had adequate funds to meet its obligations and she frequently updated Palmer on the status of the accounts, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

She admitted that, beginning in March 2010, she knew NNU was having difficulty returning principal to investors whose notes had matured, and admitted knowing that Palmer continued to solicit new investors after NNU developed financial problems and after it stopped making investor payments.

Martin also admitted she did not notify law enforcement or any regulatory agency about Palmer's fraud. Instead, she took steps to conceal the crime by lulling both new and prior investors into a false sense of security that NNU's business was turning a profit and making timely returns to investors, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued National Note of Utah and Palmer for alleged fraud.

Following a one-day trial in November 2015, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins found that National Note had operated as a Ponzi scheme.

Jenkins imposed an injunction that permanently banned Palmer from the securities industry and ordered him to pay a fine of about $1 million and to pay back $1.4 million the SEC said he misappropriated from investors.

National Note was ordered to pay back $51.9 million owed investors and pay $900,000 in fines.