ALBANY — A federal jury on Monday found three Saratoga Springs residents guilty of a variety of crimes associated with a loan fraud conspiracy that bilked unknowing investors out of more than $1 million.

Ronald and Esther Persaud were each convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 12 counts of wire fraud, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Capezza.

They each could be facing many years in federal prison when sentenced on March 9, 2009.

Ronald Persaud, 55, Esther Persaud, 50, and their son, Shawn Persaud, 24, were also each convicted of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, Capezza said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York in Albany.

The verdict in U.S. District Court follows a three-week jury trail before Senior U. S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in Albany.

Ronald Persaud was also convicted of two counts of mail fraud and Esther Persaud was also convicted of one count of bankruptcy fraud, Capezza said.

After the lengthy trial, the jury was given the case on Thursday. The jury deliberated Thursday and into the evening on Friday and then resumed deliberations Monday morning. The verdict by the 12-member panel was announced about 3 p.m. Monday.

Dennis B. Schlenker, an Albany lawyer representing Esther Persaud, said Monday evening that in such cases an appeal is “automatic.”

“They have every right to appeal,” Schlenker said. He said an appeal would be filed with the 2nd Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City sometime after the sentencing in March.

He estimated that the appeal could be heard in fall 2009.

Donald Kinsella, an Albany attorney representing Ronald Persaud, said Monday evening that his client would have the right to an appeal but this has not yet been discussed. Ronald Persaud was taken into federal custody following the jury’s verdict.

“My client is disappointed with the verdict,” Kinsella said. He said his client has until March 9, 2009, to decide whether to appeal.

The FBI started its investigation into the loan fraud case in 2005.

Capezza said that the evidence at trial indicated that Ronald and Esther Persaud “perpetrated a wire fraud conspiracy by enticing investors to pay advance fees on the false promise that the investors would receive millions of dollars in commercial funding.”

“The investors made advance fee payments in excess of $1 million and received no commercial funding,” Capezza said in a statement released by Andrew T. Baxter, acting U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York and John F. Pikus, special agent in charge of the Albany Division of the FBI.

Persaud, the prosecution said, told investors he was a person with banking connections and Esther Persaud told investors she was a bank executive, according to the joint statement.

“Ronald, Esther, and Shawn Persaud then conspired to conduct a series of financial transactions calculated to conceal and disguise the source, ownership, and control of the advance fees paid to the Persauds and others,” the statement said.