A California man who orchestrated a $64 million Ponzi scheme promising huge returns to investors through a bond-trading program and life insurance pool to aid local churches will spend the next 300 months in a federal prison.

Curtis D. Somoza, 41, formerly of Westlake Village, Calif., was sentenced following a two-day hearing in a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Somoza pleaded guilty last year to 19 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

Somoza, originally indicted in 2006, must also pay $44 million in restitution, according to the U.S. States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Judge A. Howard Matz said Somoza’s 25-year prison term was warranted because of the danger he poses to the community, his unwillingness to accept responsibility for the fraud scheme and the deterrent effect the lengthy prison term would have on others.

Court documents indicate that Somoza and co-defendant Robert Coberly solicited investors in California and Texas with claims their money would be invested in sophisticated bond-trading programs or used to buy pools of life insurance to benefit parishioners of predominantly African-American churches in South Los Angeles.

Investors were told the life policies, to benefit more than 1,000 members of the Personal Involvement Center at the Praise of Zion Baptist Church, had a face value of $275,000. Upon the death of a policyholder, $15,000 would be paid to the policyholder’s beneficiaries, $20,000 to the PIC and the remaining $240,000 would go back to a company run by Somoza and Coberly used to facilitate the scam, according to prosecutors.

Coberly, who pleaded guilty in the case, is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Matz Dec. 14.

According to prosecutors, the majority of the investors funds were used by the pair for multi-million dollar homes, cars, jewelry and other items. Somoza spent more than $27 million of the investors’ money in only 16 months, including the acquisition of two homes each worth $15 million and more than $860,000 in jewelry, which Judge Matz called “an orgy of self-indulgence.”

One elderly Texas victim invested a total of $25 million after being persuaded by Somoza and suffered losses of more than $21 million, according to prosecutors.

An FBI examination of bank accounts controlled by Somoza and Coberly indicated they attained investments of $64 million and made $28 million in repayments and payments to 91 investors, 63 of whom lost money in the scheme. The FBI estimates that investors suffered an actual loss of $44.2 million, taking into account payment that were more than some investors’ original investment.