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Celebrity Swindler Ken Starr to Serve 7 1/2 Years in Prison

By DNAinfo Staff on March 2, 2011 6:54pm  | Updated on March 3, 2011 5:59am

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Convicted celebrity fraudster Kenneth Starr will serve seven and a half years for perpetrating a $30 million ponzi scheme, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's office.

The former Manhattan accountant to the stars, whose clients included actors Natalie Portman and Sylvester Stallone, was indicted on fraud charges last spring, after he was found hiding in a closet at his Upper East Side mansion.

His lawyers asked Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin for a five-year sentence, arguing that Starr had only stolen from the very rich and that he had given much of the money to charity, according to the New York Daily News. But Schedinlin was reportedly unswayed.

Actress Uma Thurman, basketball legend Julius Erving, and celebrity jeweler Jacob Arabov are all believed to be among Starr's victims.