A 25-year prison sentence handed down to a self-proclaimed pastor who participated in an international ring that swindled people out of millions of dollars has been upheld by an appeals court.

Nathan Peachey was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Karen Schreier last year to serve 300 months. Peachey appealed her decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel from that court affirmed Schreier’s ruling.

Victims of the scheme were in South Dakota, where the case was prosecuted, as well as Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

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