Bloomberg reported that Bruce Donner, the owner of Donner Medical Marketing Inc., a medical equipment company, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a medical equipment-leasing Ponzi scheme that cost investors $80 million.

Mr. Donner exposed the fraud in July 2010 run by Allied Health Care Services Inc. founder Charles K. Schwartz, who later pleaded guilty. Schwartz was sentenced in November in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, to 16 years in prison.

According to the report, Donner provided phony invoices that helped Schwartz bilk lenders who put up $135 million.  The lenders were defrauded of $80 million. The judge agreed to a request by Donner and prosecutors for leniency.

As reported, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton said, “You should be commended for turning yourself in and allowing the government to proceed with their criminal investigation. It’s puzzling to me, and I’m sure it’s puzzling to others, why you would even get involved in an eight-year conspiracy when you were successful in business.”

“I’m terribly remorseful, obviously, for what I’ve done, and especially for what I’ve done to my friends and family,” Donner told the judge before she imposed his sentence.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Mack,Donner made $4 million to $5 million as a result of the fraud. Wigenton said she will impose restitution later.