As they spent the past decade trying to put prominent Utah real estate investor Rick Koerber behind bars, federal prosecutors often pointed to the man’s religion as being instrumental to his scheme.
The government has long accused Koerber of gaining his victims' trust because of their mutual belief in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But now Koerber’s attorneys argue ahead of his Tuesday sentencing for fraud, wire fraud and money laundering that prosecutors’ focus on his political and religious associations amount to an “impermissible anti-religious bias” against the convicted real estate fraudster.