A former Jamestown-area man has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison in connection with a financial scam involving penny stocks. 33-year-old Eric Cusimano of Lakeway, Texas, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tax evasion, was sentenced on Friday to three years and 10 months behind bars and was also ordered to pay $657,005 in restitution to the IRS and $1,218,783 as a money judgment to the United States. Prosecutors say from September 2009 to January 9, 2012, Cusimano and others took part in an online stock fraud scheme designed to fraudulently inflate the prices of publically traded stocks with low prices. Investors were deceived into believing that prices at which they bought and sold the stocks were determined by supply and demand, not rigged by manipulators. Cusimano gained $1,218,783 from that scheme, which involved at least 250 victims. In addition, Premire Consulting, Inc., which was owned and operated by Cusimano, received unreported gross receipts totaling $7,921,706 and corrected taxable income totaling $1,218,783 from 2008 to 2011.