A former concert promoter who staged shows by top acts such as the Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees and Rod Stewart has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison in the US for running his business as a $200 million fraud scheme.

A Miami federal judge imposed the sentence on 73-year-old Jack Utsick, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in June.

He admitted running his Worldwide Entertainment firm as a decade-long fraud affecting nearly 3,000 investors who were promised double-digit returns.

Despite his guilty plea, Utsick said in court he never intended to defraud investors and hoped to turn the company's fortunes around to repay all of them.

Utsick had sought a lenient sentence of about six years, in part because he has long suffered from bipolar disorder.

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