EAGLE, Colo. (KDVR) — A partner in a money laundering operation was sentenced to 30 days in jail, the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday.

A Denver man, 55-year-old Eric Nastri, pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering on Sept. 16. Nastri was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and ordered to pay $156,833.40 in restitution and more than $6,000 in court costs, according to the D.A.

“Today’s sentencing closes a dark chapter in the Town of Vail’s history regarding public officials who literally steal from the taxpayers’ wallets,” said Fifth Judicial District Attorney-elect Heidi McCollum, who led the trial team.   

Nastri helped Ron Braden, Vail’s information technology director, embezzle funds from the town. Braden was found dead by suicide in November after becoming a fugitive and cutting off his GPS tracking device.

Prosecutors for the Fifth Judicial District (which includes Eagle County) say Braden used his position as Vail’s IT director to steer inflated contracts to companies controlled by Nastri, his long-time friend.

The arrest affidavit for the two men states, “Nastri kicked back 87% of the funds…to Branden.”

McCollum told the FOX31 Problem Solvers the two men were involved in a “billing and invoicing scheme where their own personal companies were set up to really accept the money from one to the other and ultimately into their own personal bank accounts.”