PITTSBURGH — A Mars resident was sentenced Friday to 11 years in federal prison for his part in a Ponzi loan scheme and a set of identity theft loan frauds.

Bryant R. Filter, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud on April 14 for a scheme he ran under the name Filter and Associates, based in Pittsburgh.

According to a statement released Friday by the office of U.S. Attorney Robert S. Cessar, Filter fraudulently secured financing for insurance premiums for a type of insurance known as actual excess commercial liability insurance, without the consent of the municipalities, companies and businesses in whose names he had applied for the insurance.

Filter fabricated an insurance relationship with a nonexistent insurance representative and a fictitious underwriter to obtain $8.1 million in premium financing.

He repayed $4.18 million, but still swindled his victims out of $3.9 million.

Filter pleaded guilty to the second wave of fraud offenses on Nov. 6.

In those schemes, Filter operated Three Rivers Business Group as a business broker, then used personal information from unwitting clients to obtain financing proceeds in their names for himself.

He attempted to obtain a $50,000 home equity loan in the names of some of those clients, using their house as security.

This offense was committed while Filter was released on bond on the premium financing fraud case, the U.S. Attorney's statement said.

Filter also later admitted the fraudulent acquisition of an $18,000 check after he tried to sell his leased vehicle.

The total loss from these frauds was about $76,461.