MIAMI (AP) - The ringleader of a Russian-mob connected South Beach scam involving so-called "B-Girls" and wealthy male tourists has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
    
A Miami judge on Friday agreed that 46-year-old Alec Simchuk deserved credit for voluntarily returning from Russia, pleading guilty and testifying against others. Simchuk came to the U.S. even though Russian thugs broke one of his legs in a bid to stop him from cooperating.
    
The scam involved attractive Russian and Eastern European women who trolled South Beach clubs looking for rich men. They brought the men to after-hours clubs, got them exceedingly drunk and then charged huge amounts on their credit cards. Total losses were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
    
Most of the 19 people charged in the scam have been convicted.

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