Still point stand that fraud is at times punished harsher then rape or child molesting
The ongoing refusal to answer questions under oath is.
He could have agreed to talk anytime and been released shortly.
It's a civil proceeding not a criminal proceeding so he would not be incriminating himself.
He could argue that by answering he would be admitting crimes and opening himself to criminal liability. But there's a possibly they give him immunity and that route is taken away.
I remember once reading two bits of news about people given similar sentences. One for copyright infringement, the other for sexual assault of a teenager.