TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — A western Indiana man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for bilking friends and relatives out of more than $1 million in a Ponzi scheme.

Terre Haute resident Jason Severs was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to securities fraud and other charges. Prosecutors say Severs passed himself off as a sophisticated businessman and believe his scheme involved more than $3 million. But they could find records documenting only about $1.37 million.

The 39-year-old promised his investors rates of return as high as 22 percent, when in fact he had invested none of the money he collected from his victims.

The Tribune-Star reports Severs instead used the money to make payments on his car and his house and ran up credit card payments of about $200,000.