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Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they will appeal a judge's decision permanently tossing out criminal charges against Rick Koerber, the former Utah County real estate investment guru who had been indicted for allegedly operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

The announcement came the same day another federal judge dismissed charges against a former business partner of Koerber's because prosecutors had again failed to follow federal laws aimed at bringing suspects to trial in a timely manner.

But this time, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby dismissed the charges against former Koerber associate Gabriel Joseph without prejudice, meaning prosecutors can seek a new indictment.

In Koerber's case where he was facing 18 fraud, tax and money laundering charges, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups dismissed the case in August with prejudice, a ruling that bars prosecutors from seeking new charges.

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, said the U.S. Justice Department had given the go-ahead to file an appeal that will seek to overturn Waddoups' ruling on prejudice so prosecutors can seek new charges.

"We have approval to proceed with the appeal and will file the opening brief by Dec. 5," Rydalch said in an email.

She also said the office was reviewing its options on seeking a new indictment of Joseph.

Both cases were tossed because prosecutors had not filed timely requests for exemptions from laws that require trials within certain time limits.

Koerber had been accused of running one of the largest financial frauds in Utah history for allegedly operating his FranklinSquires Cos. and related entities as a Ponzi scheme in which money from new investors allegedly went to pay off earlier ones to make the operations appear profitable, allegations Koerber has firmly denied.

While prosecutors admitted to Speedy Trial Act violations in the Koerber case, Waddoups also found a pattern of neglect and "continuous misconduct" by prosecutors and barred them from refiling.

Keorber's attorney, Marcus Mumford, said Wednesday in a written statement: "We welcome the chance to have the 10th Circuit review what Judge Waddoups described as the 'sordid history' of the government's misconduct in this case. Hopefully, this appeal will finally put an end to the government's overreach in pursuit of an unjust prosecution of Mr. Koerber."

The U.S. Attorney's Office will now ask the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to overturn that decision.

Joseph, the former officer of some of the Koerber companies, was accused of defrauding Washington Mutual bank through loan applications involving about $9 million for property transactions in Park City, Orem and Alpine.

In dismissing the charges, Shelby found that the delays in bringing the case to trial were almost entirely the result of actions by Joseph and his attorneys. His current attorney, Richard Mauro, is the fourth lawyer to represent Joseph and those handoffs were responsible for much of the delays, the judge found.

Of the 20 continuances, Joseph and his attorneys were solely responsible for 18, Shelby noted.

"In this case I conclude the delays should be primarily attributed to Mr. Joseph," Shelby said in a ruling from the bench. He also found that the delays may have hurt prosecutors' ability to try the case more than they did Joseph's ability to defend himself.

In a third federal case, a jury in March found Koerber associate Jason K. Vaughn not guilty of four charges of fraud and money laundering for operation of a company that gathered money from investors that was then funneled into Koerber's operations.