PROV­I­DENCE, Rhode Is­land - A ca­reer con artist who helped with a crim­i­nal in­ves­ti­ga­tion that led to Google Inc for­feit­ing $500 mil­lion was sen­tenced yes­ter­day to near­ly six years in prison for his role in a mul­ti­mil­lion dol­lar fraud scheme tar­get­ing 83 cus­tomers and a cred­it card pro­cess­ing com­pa­ny. David Whitak­er's co­op­er­a­tion with the Google in­ves­ti­ga­tion was called ex­tra­or­di­nary sev­er­al times dur­ing his sen­tenc­ing in US Dis­trict Court in Prov­i­dence. As­sis­tant US At­tor­ney An­drew Re­ich said that be­cause of the probe, mil­lions of Amer­i­cans have been pro­tect­ed from rogue on­line Cana­di­an phar­ma­cies ad­ver­tis­ing pre­scrip­tion drugs through Google's Ad­Words pro­gramme.

Google for­feit­ed the $500 mil­lion to avoid crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion for ac­cu­sa­tions it im­prop­er­ly prof­it­ed from ads placed by the phar­ma­cies. Whitak­er, a 36-year-old Vir­ginia res­i­dent who has been jailed since 2008, said be­fore sen­tenc­ing that the probe changed his life. He said he learned hon­esty, in­tegri­ty and how to be a bet­ter per­son from in­ves­ti­ga­tors on the case. He said he al­so shed his mis­con­cep­tion that he was a vic­tim.

AP