A Madison man who stole $2.9 million from friends and family who he persuaded to back his purported attempts to acquire two beverage companies was sentenced to 30 months in prison in federal district court Monday.

Prosecutors pressed for a longer sentence, but U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton told 58-year old Brian Hughes that she was struck by his “remarkable rehabilitation” since FBI arrested him two years ago, finding him under a bridge in Stonington, where he was living and drinking a half gallon of vodka a day.

“He is more than his worst offenses,” Arterton told the court in New Haven. “His rehabilitation has been extraordinary.”

Federal prosecutors said Hughes, once a high profile parent and athletic booster in Madison, persuaded 23 people to invest in two ventures, the purchase of a company called Salute American Vodka, and a second deal involving a sparkling wine company prosecutors would not identify.

Hughes actually bought the vodka company, but squandered most of the investor money on personal items such as loan repayments, credit card debt, tuition payment for a college aged son and the purchase of a business – a gym – for his girlfriend. The purchase of the wine business was never seriously considered, according to the prosecution.

Of the $2.9 million raised from friends and family, federal prosecutors said Hughes spent but $1.3 million on himself. He was charged with fraud, tax evasion and finance crimes.

The investors, who each put up about $100,000, were told the money would be used to acquire and operate Salute, according to the initial indictment. Further, it said, Hughes diverted money to accounts opened in his or his wife’s names, a personal investment in a fitness company and for lulling payments designed to mislead investors into believing they were getting returns on their investments.

Hughes attributed his crimes to something called alcohol use disorder. In a defense memo filed with the court, he said he began drinking as a teen, was known as “Booze Hughes” at Madison’s high school and in college and that the dependency led to the thefts beginning in 2015.

“I was living a complete like,” he told the judge. “I was not who I pretended to be. My self deception had me detached from reality.”

Since his arrest, Hughes described his rehabilitation in a letter to Arterton and a long public apology in court. He said he stopped drinking, completed multiple dependency programs and obtained employment as a counselor at a drug and alcohol recovery center.

Arterton said she hopes he continues his work in prison. He ordered him to repay the $2.9 million when he is released as well as $470,00 he owes the IRS.