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SAN DIEGO - A man was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison Wednesday for his part in a scam that defrauded thousands of investors out of nearly $50 million through a series of purported high-tech telecommunications securities.

Brent Douglas Morris, of Manhattan Beach, was convicted after a 21-week trial two years ago of 24 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of the Treasury.

U.S. District Court Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz sentenced Morris to 148 months in custody and ordered him to repay $49,050,378 to more than 3,000 victims nationwide.

"The 148-month sentence imposed by the Court reflects the magnitude of Morris' fraud," said U.S. Attorney Carol Lam.

The lengthy sentence should serve as a warning to individuals perpetrating investment fraud schemes upon the public, Lam said.

The charges for which Morris, 48, was sentenced arose from his involvement with a telemarketing organization -- referred to as the Enterprise -- which was headquartered in Los Angeles, but which operated boiler rooms in San Diego, Las Vegas and Tampa, Fla., prosecutor Steven A. Peak said.

Principals of the Enterprise defrauded their victims through the design, development and marketing of a series of telecommunications-related securities, based on 900-numbers, pay-per-call services, virtual shopping malls and Internet service providers in various U.S. cities, which were not registered and fraudulently described as "general partnerships," Peak said.

Each fraudulent venture consisted of a partnership which was to be owned by the investors, and a corporation which was to serve as the Initial Managing Partner of the partnership, Peak said.

The Initial Managing Partner corporation, which was controlled by the Enterprise, received a management fee equal to 85 percent of the funds invested in the partnership, which normally amounted to several million dollars, Peak said.

The nature and percentage of the management fee was deliberately concealed from investors by means of intentional misrepresentations, lies and omissions, Peak said.

The lead defendant in the trial, Marc David Levine, was sentenced in June 2003 to more than 24 years in federal custody.