A South Carolina judge has denied Tony Pough, Tim McQueen and Joseph Brunson of the 3 Hebrew Boys LLC a request to unfreeze $17 million in assets and grant them the right to vacation in the Caribbean, The State is reporting. The men are implicated in a scheme that attempted to victimize churches and U.S. soldiers. The plot was uncovered by Attorney General Henry McMaster who, in late May, prevented the men from liquidating or moving the suspect funds.

McMaster’s office contends the three men “have violated the State Securities Act by engaging in fraudulent sales practices and by selling securities in and from the State of South Carolina without properly registering them.” If convicted, the men face 10 years in prison and up to $50,000 in fines.

“Everybody needs a vacation,” their attorney, Hemphill Pride II, told the judge.

Their July vacation, which Pride said was planned for months, included a five-day stay in Orlando following a six-day Caribbean cruise from Miami to the Grand Cayman Islands.

Attorney General Henry McMaster’s office objected. Investigators say the trio had purchased real estate in the Bahamas and Panama and possessed up to $400,000 in cashier’s checks.

If any of them fled, international travel would make extradition complicated, said Jennifer Evans, the lead prosecutor from McMaster’s office.

“They can have a vacation in South Carolina,” she said. [BEN WERNER, The State]