Hannu Kailajärvi of WinCapita at the Court of Appeal in Helsinki on 25 October 2012. File Photo Lehtikuva.
A district court ruled on Tuesday the defendants in the country's largest fraud case must forfeit their illegal gains to Finnish authority, local media reported.
The Northern Savo District Court ruled that a total of more than 10 million euros of ill-gotten gains from 43 alleged suspects should be confiscated, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.
The court also decided to give the three main defendants suspended sentences of 1 year and 10 months, 1 year, and 3 months in prison, respectively.
The defendants are from WinCapita club, a Finnish Internet-based Ponzi scheme which advertised itself as a private investment club engaged in currency trading.
It operated mainly in Finland, recruiting a smaller number of members in Sweden from 2005 to 2008.
The operation was considered the largest swindle in the history of Finland, as about 100 million euros were collected from over 10,000 investors.
