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Sandra Singh was diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and had no medical insurance.

A friend told her about an investment opportunity that promised 10 percent interest compounded monthly. She went to a seminar run by a middle-aged couple and was told that a $2,000 investment would be worth more than $1 million after six years.

Singh invested $343,500.

Of more than 1,300 people who invested with the couple - Howard Welsh and Lee Hope Thrasher - Singh is one of the few to have received some cash back: $20,000.

Welsh, a 63-year-old British citizen, and Thrasher, his 53-year-old girlfriend and a former crime victims' advocate in Virginia Beach, are scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court today for their roles in swindling $31 million in what prosecutors say was a massive Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme.

Recovering the money has proved to be tricky.

Welsh and Thrasher sold financial plans called "corporation soles," a type of tax-free investment usually reserved for churches. In 2006, the IRS listed corporation soles on its "dirty dozen" tax scams.

The couple held seminars around the country explaining the program. They required a $1,500 fee to join and invited participants to invest as much as they could, according to court records. One woman, who has since died, turned over $8 million.

In less than four years, the couple took in $43 million. They made about $6.5 million in payments to some investors, according to prosecutors.

In 2002, the couple wired $31 million to banks overseas and fled the country. They hopscotched around the world, e-mailing investors with assurances their money was safe.

Since the two were arrested in England three years ago, the FBI, IRS and other federal agencies have searched throughout the world for the money and have recovered only about $3 million. The authorities discovered that the money was transferred over and over again into accounts that the agents could not identify. Agents lost track of the money.

After pleading guilty, Welsh sat down with federal agents and explained where the money went. It's a story prosecutors said is hard to believe:

In his travels, Welsh said, he met a Nigerian man named Femi Coker who claimed to work at the Nigerian Central Bank. They, and two other Nigerian men, developed an investment plan and Welsh delivered the $31 million to a government warehouse in Accra, Ghana, a West African nation near Nigeria.

Welsh told the authorities that he delivered the cash in a diplomatic pouch, which allowed him to bypass normal customs rules. The money, he said, is sitting in that warehouse, according to court papers filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

All he needs to do is pay a "release tax" to a Ghana government official and he can reclaim the funds, he told the agents.

In court papers filed this week, Welsh asked a federal judge to delay his sentencing to give him time to recover the money. He did not explain how he planned to do that from jail.

Welsh and Thrasher, who also pleaded guilty and is in jail without bond, have declined interviews.

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed papers asking the judge to deny the request and to sentence Welsh and Thrasher to the maximum - 20 years in prison for him and 15 years for her.

"The government has been unable to confirm key elements of Welsh's statement," former IRS agent Carol E. Willman wrote in a court affidavit. Willman retired in 2006.

Willman noted a number of holes in his story: There is no Femi Coker employed at the Nigerian Central Bank; deliveries of diplomatic pouches are limited to embassies and may not include cash; there is no such thing as a "release tax" in Ghana, Willman wrote.

Singh, of Queens, N.Y., doesn't believe she'll recover any more of her savings.

"I had a very bad experience," she said. "They're all a bunch of liars."

Of more than 1,300 investors, only 235 have filed papers with the government seeking restitution.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com]