Bernie Madoff quickly admitted guilt in his billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, but a Chattanooga man charged with bilking at least $33 million from investors all over the nation appears to be fighting charges that he was running his own such scheme, court documents indicate.

Monday was the deadline for Luis Rivas either to strike a deal with the government or take his case to trial. Mr. Rivas' public federal defenders since have filed papers asking a U.S. District Court in Chattanooga for "at least four (more) months" to prepare the "complex" case.

If the extension is granted, it likely means the trial now set for July 20 will be rescheduled.

Defense attorney Mary Ellen Coleman declined to answer when asked if the case would go to trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble also would not comment on whether the government plans to offer Mr. Rivas a plea deal.

A former foreign currencies trader who promised huge returns for his clients but allegedly was running nothing more than a large-scale Ponzi scheme, Mr. Rivas is charged with 19 crimes ranging from wire and bankruptcy fraud to money laundering.

In a Ponzi scheme, money from new investors is used to make payments to earlier ones, while those running the scheme often live lavish lifestyles on other people's money.

Before the beginning of his downfall in May 2008, which began as the result of angry investors filing an involuntary bankruptcy claim against him, Mr. Rivas is accused of living a lifestyle that involved buying houses and luxury cars for his employees and girlfriends. He did not actually invest any of the money he collected from clients, investigators say.

Last summer, authorities caught Mr. Rivas on the run in Topeka, Kan., and although the FBI says he once claimed to have millions of dollars in the bank to keep up his charade with investors, Mr. Rivas is unable to pay a $250,000 bond and remains incarcerated at Silverdale Detention Center.

If convicted of all charges at trial, Mr. Rivas, 55, faces a total of 225 years in federal prison. The parallel involuntary bankruptcy action against the inmate is playing out in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court.

Mr. Madoff, a New York financier accused of swindling clients out of about $65 billion, was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison.

The court documents in which Mr. Rivas' legal team asks for more time outline just how "complex" the defense of the case has been.

With an estimated 500 victims -- many of them from Chattanooga -- the documents indicate that the defense so far has interviewed 77 "alleged investors." Six of Mr. Rivas' former employees also have been interviewed, including some in Spartanburg, S.C., where Mr. Rivas ran one of several offices across the Southeast under the name "The Forex Project."

There are more than 3,000 pages of documents and witness interviews in the case, as well.

Ms. Coleman states in the documents that in March she traveled to Spartanburg, where the investigation into Mr. Rivas first started, to review even more evidence collected by the FBI. The trip to Spartanburg "effectively increased by eight times what was initially examined by counsel," documents state.

Bankruptcy trustee Grey Steed, who is leading the charge to recoup investors' money through forensic accounting, auctions and lawsuits, said Tuesday that they are "still in the process of collecting funds."

Only about $3 million so far has been collected, records show.

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