King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Heller accepted a motion on Friday, Dec. 28 to continue the sentencing of Mercer Island resident Stephen J. Klos on ten counts of Securities Fraud for running a Ponzi scheme and stealing over $3 million from ten elderly victims on Mercer Island and in the Seattle area.
Klos, 86, pleaded guilty to the charges of running a Ponzi scheme worth over $3.5 million by entering an Alford plea in July, in exchange for one year in jail and $2.3 million in restitution. Klos faces a sentence range of 51 to 68 months — between 4 1/2 to nearly 6 years, if the judge delines to accept the plea and imposes his own sanctions, or if Klos has failed to repay the victims of his Ponzi scheme $2.3 million as he promised in July.
The hearing was continued to Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. before Judge Bruce Heller at the King County Courthouse.
