< p>HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says an unprecedented rise in Ponzi and other investment fraud schemes has prompted the agency to hold a regional meeting in Connecticut.

The investment fraud summit will bring federal prosecutors, enforcement attorneys, law enforcement officers, scholars, victims of investor fraud and others.

Federal prosecutors looking at investment cases from the last two years have identified 500 prosecutions that targeted 800 defendants and involved more than $20 billion in fraud. Victims are typically middle-class, and often elderly.

The summit at the University of Connecticut in Stamford begins Monday. It will cover topics including the prosecution of investor fraud in the Northeast, case studies, and the victim's perspective.

Participants will come from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.