A former officer of WexTrust Capital who cooperated with federal investigations into the company and two other officers has been barred from the securities industry for defrauding the firm's investors.

U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin sentenced Joseph Shereshevsky on Monday to the maximum term recommended in his plea agreement for fraud - 21 years and 10 months in federal prison. //

Chin said Shereshevsky prolonged the case against him and displayed no remorse until Monday's hearing in a Manhattan federal court.

Nearly three years after Joseph Shereshevsky was arrested at his Norfolk home on charges of bilking investors, some of his victims say they’ve tried to forget about the losses they suffered.

“I had to get on with my life. The losses are lost,” said Stewart Smokler, a Virginia Beach retiree who made a handful of investments with Shereshevsky.

By Tom Shean The Virginian-Pilot The receiver seeking to recoup investor funds from WexTrust Capital and its affiliates said in a court filing that his work is threatened by the way the IRS may choose to tax the WexTrust estate.

Victims of investment firm WexTrust Capital reacted with surprise Friday to the guilty plea of its former chief operating officer, Joseph Shereshevsky, to three felony counts of securities fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy. "I was shocked," said Patti Robertson, a Virginia Beach resident who had invested in some of WexTrust's offerings.

In an agreement with federal prosecutors, the founder and former CEO of WexTrust Capital pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.

A federal judge has authorized the distribution of $5 million in WexTrust Capital assets to investors and creditors of the company whose chief operating officer and CEO face securities fraud charges.

The court-appointed receiver in the WexTrust Capital fraud case may be seeking the return of money from an Orthodox Jewish congregation in Norfolk and a Virginia Beach law firm. In an August report to the federal court in Manhattan, receiver Timothy Coleman said he "has made formal written demands on 30 parties for payment in connection with various claims."

The Securities and Exchange Commission can continue with its fraud complaint against a former officer of WexTrust Capital while prosecutors pursue a criminal case against the Norfolk resident, a federal judge said.

A Norfolk resident and former chief operating officer of WexTrust Capital is asking the federal court in Manhattan to temporarily suspend a civil suit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission while he defends himself against criminal allegations of securities fraud.