Eric Witmeyer

A man who made a living selling offshore shell banks to unsophisticated clients who invariably used them to commit criminal activity has been sentenced to six months in prison.Jerome Schneider, 53, a resident of Vancouver, Canada, was sentenced at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on December 6, 2004 - ten months after pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was ordered to pay a fine of $4,000 and a $100 special assessment. He previously paid $100,000 in restitution.

California-based attorney Eric John Witmeyer has received a non-custodial sentence in return for helping prosecutors with their case against his co-defendant and former business partner Jerome Schneider.Witmeyer was sentenced to one-year of probation and a $10,000 fine at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on October 31, 2003.

Offshore bank broker and author Jerome Schneider has made his first court appearance in the United States since being criminally indicted on 23 counts of fraud on December 19, 2002. Schneider was arraigned at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on January 30 and pleaded not guilty. He immediately posted a $100,000 corporate surety bond.

Offshore promoter Jerome Schneider and his alleged business partner, Eric J. Witmeyer, are expected to be arraigned next week after they were criminally indicted in the United States.Although they were indicted on December 19, 2002, neither was required to put in a court appearance by year-end, which prosecutors said was due to the difficulties of the Holiday season.