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New York Daily News – Marc Dreier will plead guilty to all charges stemming from the $700 million investment fraud he is accused of carrying out, his lawyer said Monday.
Defense lawyer Gerald Shargel said Dreier will enter the plea May 11 to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges. He wants to accept responsibility and show his remorse, Shargel said.
Until December, Dreier had led a law firm with 250 lawyers and celebrity clients, including Jay Leno and ex-New York Giants star Michael Strahan. He was arrested after hedge funds complained he was stealing from them.
Seattle Times – An official appointed to recover the assets of a prominent Manhattan lawyer accused of defrauding hedge funds of at least $400 million says he has safeguarded more than $100 million in assets, including an $18.5 million yacht.
The court-appointed receiver, Mark Pomerantz, outlined his findings about lawyer Marc Dreier and his 150-lawyer firm, Dreier LLP, in a report made public Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Dreier, 58, was arrested in December on securities fraud charges. He remains under house arrest while his lawyer, Gerald Shargel, prepares what he says is likely to be a guilty plea for his client.
Bloomberg - Marc Dreier, the New York lawyer jailed since his arrest for allegedly cheating hedge funds, won’t be able to post the $20 million bond that would free him, his lawyer told a federal judge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton in New York today modified an earlier ruling that ordered Dreier held without bail until trial. Eaton required Dreier to have four co-signers and submit to home detention and electronic monitoring. Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said he will probably appeal.
“Effectively, that will keep my client in jail,” Shargel told Eaton, the same judge who set $10 million bail for accused swindler Bernard Madoff, who is charged with running an unrelated $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Dreier, 58, was arrested Dec. 7 on charges that he persuaded two unidentified hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by falsely claiming he was selling at a discount notes issued by Sheldon Solow, a New York developer. Prosecutors later said “very sophisticated investors” lost $380 million. In a letter to the judge yesterday, they said that the loss topped $400 million.
Dreier, a graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale College, hasn’t formally responded to the wire- and securities-fraud charges. Prosecutors, who arrested Dreier on a criminal complaint, must file an indictment with the court by Feb. 7, Shargel said outside the courtroom.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Marc Dreier was denied bail on Thursday after prosecutors estimated the New York attorney swindled more than $380 million out of investors in his elaborate scheme that targeted hedge funds.
Alleging that Dreier fooled “the most sophisticated investors in the world,” prosecutor Jonathan Streeter convinced Judge Douglas Eaton that he may be a flight risk. Streeter emphasized the fact that Dreier has extensive contacts around the world where the money may be hidden. Dreier’s legal team had sought a $10 million bail package with house arrest.
Streeter said the alleged fraud had been in the works since January 2006 and called Dreier a “Houdini of impersonation and false pretenses.”
It was first estimated that Dreier duped about $113 million from investors by selling fake notes tied to a bogus real estate development company based in New York. He then allegedly covered up the scheme by producing false documentation and financial statements. While it was first believed that only a few prominent big-name hedge funds were targeted, new evidence supports the theory that Dreier may have targeted many more funds.
His firm, Dreier LLP, also suddenly had millions missing from its client escrow accounts. According to court papers, Dreier is the only one authorized to make transfers from these accounts. Strangely enough, Dreier transferred $10 million to a personal account from the escrow account via telephone while being held in a Canadian jail last week for criminal impersonation charges.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
