The attorney assigned to unravel a Connecticut-based investment pyramid scheme says it will take longer than expected to account for the money, including hundreds of millions of dollars invested on behalf of a pension fund for Venezuelan state oil workers.

The court-appointed receiver, John Carney, is investigating the financial dealings of Francisco Illarramendi, a Venezuelan-American accused of taking money from hedge funds he operated in Stamford, Conn., for personal use. U.S. prosecutors in Connecticut have called it the state's biggest white-collar federal prosecution.

Carney on Monday asked for a three-month deadline extension to Sept. 30, saying the task has been complicated by gaps in the paper trail and other challenges.

"The magnitude and fraudulent nature of the transactions, the lack of meaningful documentation, the involvement of foreign entities, and the sheer quantity of data all necessitate additional time," Carney, of the New York law firm Baker & Hostetler, wrote in the court filing.

The office of the U.S. district judge handling the case, Janet Bond Arterton, said the request was pending Tuesday.

Illarramendi, 42, of New Canaan, pleaded guilty on March 7 to criminal charges including several counts of fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He faces up to 70 years in prison at a sentencing hearing that remains to be scheduled.

The founder of a Dallas steak house has pleaded guilty to swindling an investor out of $300,000.

Bob Sambol, founder of Bob's Steak & Chop House, pleaded guilty late Monday to felony theft.

Sambol has agreed to repay the investor over money the restaurant operator received in 2007. Sambol faces 10 years of deferred adjudication probation. No sentencing date was immediately set.

The Dallas Morning News reports the charges stem from an investment Sambol accepted to expand one of his restaurants. Sambol originally said the indictment was about "a business deal gone bad."

A man who gouged out his eyes while in Miami-Dade County jail has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for gouging his wife's eyes after he was released.

Eugene Roman pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated battery and kidnapping charges in the May 2006 attack. Roman's estranged wife was left blind in her right eye and partially blind in her left.

Roman was also sentenced to 10 years probation. The 50-year-old cried in court and asked for forgiveness.

His wife told The Miami Herald she wanted him kept away from her and her children.

Roman gouged out his eyes while serving a 364-day sentence for attacking his wife and police officers inside the couple's home in 2005. He was released early when his wife agreed to take him back.