THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 10, 2011, 8:07AM ET

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NP0I5G0.htm

A Texas businessman charged in a multi-state, $100 million fraud scheme denied Thursday that he lied to investors and blamed their losses on former colleagues, including some who testified against him after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with the government.

Adley Abdulwahab of Spring, Texas was the only defense witness in U.S. District Court, where he is charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. The jury will begin deliberations after closing arguments Friday.

The 35-year-old Abdulwahab was one of the principals in Houston-based companies that used investor funds to buy life-insurance policies from insured people at less than face value and promised to pay investors from the proceeds of those policies. Prosecutors say the defendant and others illegally portrayed investments as risk-free, misrepresented many aspects of their business and used investor funds to finance their own lavish lifestyles.

"Isn't it true you repeatedly lied to get people's money?'" federal prosecutor Michael Steven Dry asked the defendant near the end of his nearly three hours on the witness stand.

"No sir," Abdulwahab said. "I'm telling the truth."

Dry persisted: "Isn't it true you would say whatever it takes to avoid jail?"

Again, the answer was a defiant no.

"I'm not like the other individuals who signed plea agreements and continue to lie," Abdulwahab said.

The defendant acknowledged that he falsely claimed to have an economics degree from Louisiana State University, but he dismissed the claim as harmless "puffery." He denied lying about anything else to investors, agents who sold the so-called "life settlement" contracts or others. And he said he had no hand in developing marketing materials that prosecutors said were laden with falsehoods intended to make the company seem reliable and the investments safe.

Prosecutors introduced evidence that Abdulwahab pleaded guilty to forgery of a commercial instrument in 2004, before he joined the companies known collectively as A&O. He later indicated on an application to manage a hedge fund for A&O that he had never pleaded guilty to a felony. Allmendinger testified that he thought he could answer that way because the plea was a "deferred adjudication," meaning the case would later be dismissed.

The defendant also rejected prosecutors' suggestion that he operated under the last name "Wahab" to conceal his background. Abdulwahab said people found his name hard to pronounce, so he informally shortened it.

A&O was founded in Houston by Christian Allmendinger and Brent Oncale. According to testimony, they invited Abdulwahab to become a partner after he had success selling and getting other agents to sell A&O's life settlement product.

Oncale, who entered a plea agreement, testified for the government in Abdulwahab's trial. Allmendinger was convicted by a jury in March, and he and Oncale both await sentencing.

The case was filed in Richmond because many of the investors and one of A&O's agents, who also testified in Abdulwahab's trial, live in the area.