PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Catherine Damavandi, Deputy Attorney General

Phone: (302) 577-8927 (including after COB)

Date: January 30, 2004

 

POLKA KING SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON

Judge characterized conduct as “especially evil”

(Wilmington, DE): Attorney General M. Jane Brady today announced that polka star Jan Lewandowski, a.k.a. Lewan, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for defrauding two Delaware families out of $87,000. Lewan had pleaded guilty on December 8, 2003 to one count of racketeering, two counts of theft against the elderly, one count of securities fraud, one count of sale of an unregistered security and one count of sale of securities by an unregistered agent. 

Judge Susan DelPesco sentenced the defendant to 11 years of incarceration for these crimes, but suspended 6 years of the prison term by imposing 6 years of probation. During his probation, Mr. Lewandowski will be required to pay restitution to his victims. The defendant is also permanently barred from the offer or sale of securities or other investment products in the State of Delaware. 

At the time of the offenses against the Delaware victims, Mr. Lewandowski had been barred from the offer or sale of securities from Pennsylvania. He had been ordered to stop selling unregistered securities in Pennsylvania in 1992 and 2000. At sentencing, Judge DelPesco remarked that the Pennsylvania actions gave Lewandowski the “time to start recognizing his obligations.” She described Mr. Lewandowski’s crimes in Delaware as “inexcusable,” adding that it was “especially evil to prey on people’s heritage.” 

Attorney General Brady commented, “Mr. Lewandowski betrayed the trust of the Polish community by defrauding two Delaware families and 315 other victims throughout the country. These crimes will not be tolerated in the state of Delaware, and violators will be fully prosecuted by my office.”

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