Three people convicted in a fraudulent Nebraska investment scheme have been sentenced to prison and ordered to make restitution of more than $16.6 million.

The three were sentenced on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln.

Stella Levea and James Masat, both of Grand Island, were given eight years and a month in federal prison. Kenneth Motin, of St. Libory, was given five years. They must serve three years of supervised release after leaving prison.

Levea and Masat were the principals of First Americans Insurance Service, which had been under investigation since a 2009 bankruptcy filing. Motin worked for them.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning compared First Americans’ dealings to a Ponzi scheme in which investors are promised high returns and early investors are paid with money from later investors.