Court Rejects Appeal by New Era Founder

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the founder of the Foundation for New Era Philanthropy, which collapsed in 1995 after being exposed as a pyramid scheme.

Without comment, the court refused to hear an argument by John G. Bennett, Jr., that the federal judge who sentenced him to 12 years in prison had misinterpreted federal sentencing guidelines.

The court’s decision makes it likely that Mr. Bennett, 62, will serve out the remaining 10 years of his term.

Mr. Bennett pleaded no contest in 1997 to 82 counts of fraud, money laundering, and tax-code violations.

A federal judge said that while federal guidelines required a minimum sentence of more than 19 years, he would reduce it to 12 years because of Mr. Bennett’s efforts to reimburse the donors who lost money. But a lawyer for Mr. Bennett said the judge had erred in not making further reductions based on the circumstances.