*Brentwood investor Ezri Namvar convicted of wire fraud

This has been a huge - and barely covered - story involving the local Persian Jewish community. In a nutshell, Namvar had been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that helped fuel a sizable real estate business. The scheme collapsed when the economy tanked. Last fall, Namvar was charged with stealing $23 million from clients as part of a five-count indictment. (That dollar amount supposedly pales next to the actual losses.) Well, he was found guilty this morning on four counts of wire fraud. The vice president of one of Namvar's companies, Hamid Tabatabai, was also found guilty on four counts of wire fraud. Daniel Miller, who had covered the case extensively for the Business Journal before moving on to The Hollywood Reporter, just got off the phone with attorney David Youssefyeh, who represented several of Namvar's investors.

"Everyone who dealt with Mr. Namvar -- all of his victims -- knew that he is a crook. But this just confirms it. An independent panel of 12 people also found him to be a crook. I think it means a lot. I think it is a big step toward closing the chapter."

No word yet on sentencing. Miller tells me that Namvar's scheme devastated the insular Persian Jewish community, which at first tried to keep the losses to themselves. Here's a little background from a 2009 Business Journal story.

*Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22. Namvar faces a statutory maximum sentence of 80 years in federal prison, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office..