A Florida securities broker was convicted of fraud for selling bonds in Hawai'i that weren't properly secured, costing investors more than $24 million.

A Honolulu jury found Richard Morris guilty Aug. 13, Dwight Nadamoto, a Hawai'i deputy attorney general, said in an interview. Hawai'i investors lost $1 million, while investors elsewhere in the U.S. lost more than $23 million in the fraud, he said.

Morris sold five-year notes of 21st Century Satellite Communications Inc. through a Honolulu accountant, promising a 13 percent return, Nadamoto said. The notes weren't secured by the company's collateral — instead, money from newer investors was used to pay interest on earlier investors' notes, he said.

Robert Byrch, 21st Century's president, and Douglas Nonaka, the accountant, pleaded guilty in the case, Nadamoto said.

"They said the investment was fully secured and collateralized," and that if the value of the collateral fell below the investment they would make cash contributions to cover the loss, Nadamoto said. "They were never making enough money. New investors' money had to be used to pay old investors' interest. There's no other way it could've worked."

21st Century went bankrupt in 2001.

Morris was also convicted of illegal securities practices and faces as many as 20 years in state prison, according to Nadamoto. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7 before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins in Honolulu.

Morris's lawyer, Cliff Hunt, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.