YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal jury convicted three people of swindling as many as 10,000 people worldwide out of $26 million in a get-rich-quick scam.

        Geoffrey Benson and his wife, Susan, both of Waite Hill, and Geoffrey O'Connor of Painesville were found guilty Thursday of 26 counts of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service and tax evasion, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. U.S. District Judge Peter Economus has not scheduled a sentencing date.

        The Bensons' daughter, Jennifer Bordelon, pleaded guilty to wire fraud before the trial began.

        “These officials blatantly disregarded the law and performed no services for the investors, ...” Ohio Securities Commissioner Debbie Dye Joyce said Friday.

        Prosecutors said the four operated the Infinity Group, an investment business. The group sold investments and promised they could achieve a return of as much as 181 percent on investors' money.

        The money was lost in a Ponzi scheme, in which money collected by new investors is used for payment of inflated rates of return to original investors to attract more business.

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Three guilty of swindling investors' $26M