CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for participating in a Ponzi scheme that bilked $6.4 million from more than 250 people in connection to a now-defunct internet sports talk station.

Prosecutors say 50-year-old David Hernandez of Downers Grove was sentenced Friday in a Chicago federal courtroom. He was given 200 months in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud charged in January 2010. A judge also ordered Hernandez to pay $6.4 million in restitution.

Hernandez, along with radio and TV sports personality Mike North, founded Webio. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, a tearful Hernandez told U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman on Friday that he suffered from mental issues that stem from childhood abuse.

Hernandez fled and attempted to commit suicide after the scheme was exposed.

Prosecutors say he swindled the money to fund Webio.

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