Queens woman sentenced for $1.3 million Ponzi scheme

A Long Island City woman was sentenced Monday to 3 to 9 years in prison for stealing more than a million dollars in a Ponzi scheme, officials said.

Between 2003 and 2008, Ibis Febles, 66, and her business partner, who is still a fugitive, collected more than $1.3 million from 30 investors and promised them a 14% return on real estate investments, the Queens district attorney said.

Febles, who pleaded guilty in May to several charges, never invested the money in real estate and refused to return the money to the investors, according to the DA.