Two senior officers of a defunct northwest Fresno business must pay $46.5 million to more than 1,200 victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme, a jury ruled Friday in Fresno County Superior Court.

But the victims – many of them from Fresno's Armenian-American community – won't ever get full restitution. The defendants likely don't have that much cash or could be hiding their assets, a lawyer for the victims said.

"They will get something back," attorney Ara Jabagchourian said. "But it will be pennies on the dollar."

Jurors deliberated two days before finding Dan Ramirez, president of HL Leasing Inc., and Andy Fernandez, the company's chief financial officer, liable.

The jury verdict in the class-action suit came three days after Judge Donald Black found HL Leasing Inc., Heritage Pacific Leasing and Air Fred LLC also liable for defrauding the victims.

The three companies were created by John W. Otto, the alleged mastermind of the Ponzi scheme, but he committed suicide in 2009.

The jury found Ramirez liable under the theory of fraudulent concealment and aiding and abetting the fraud. Fernandez also aided and abetted in the fraud, the panel concluded.

John Otto founded HL Leasing at Shaw and Valentine avenues in 2001. Over the years, he and his employees fraudulently enticed investors to lend HL Leasing money by telling them that he was buying American Express lease agreements at a discount. In return, the investors would get monthly payments on their loans.

Jabagchourian and co-counsel Donald Fischbach said Ramirez used longtime investors to vouch for the company's success to prospective clients. Ramirez also falsely told the prospects that the company was registered with the California Department of Corporations.

Many of the Fresno victims are members of St. Paul's Armenian Church and Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church. Once the churchgoers learned that fellow parishioners were making money, "it spread by word of mouth," Jabagchourian said, Fresnobee reported.