Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
AP – A Chicago hedge fund owner accused of helping prop up the alleged Tom Petters Ponzi scheme has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Appearing in federal court in St. Paul on Wednesday, Gregory Bell admitted helping set up 86 “round-trip” money transfers between his company, Lancelot Investment Management, and Petters Co. Inc. Prosecutors say the transfers helped conceal Petters Co.’s inability to repay its debts to the hedge fund.
Under his plea deal, Bell, 44, of Highland Park, Ill., agreed to help the government find his accounts and disburse the money to victims of his fraud.
Riverside Press Enterprise – The founder and manager of two Beverly Hills hedge funds has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.
Bradley Ruderman pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of investment adviser fraud and a misdemeanor count of failing to file income taxes in 2007.
Prosecutors say Ruderman admitted to cheating investors, many of them family members, out of $25 million by promising annual returns as high as 60 percent and sending fake account statements.
Chicago Tribune – Illinois hedge-fund manager Gregory Bell, who was charged with wire fraud for his role in an alleged Ponzi scheme, was granted $1.5 million bail and required to wear an electronic monitor, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled Wednesday.
Bell, founder of Lancelot Investment Management LLC, was accused Friday by U.S. prosecutors and regulators of feeding client assets to the alleged scheme run by businessman Thomas Petters. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Keyes, citing Bell’s cooperation with authorities, ordered Bell to put up interest in his home in Highland Park to satisfy the bail.
Minneapolis Star Tribune – A Prominent Manhattan lawyer has pleaded guilty to defrauding hedge funds of more than $400 million.
Fifty-eight-year-old Marc Dreier on Monday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The charges carry a potential prison term of 30 years to life in prison.
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.
North Country Gazette – A former registered broker with the National Association of Securities Dealers has been charged in a criminal information with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud stemming from his participation with attorney Marc Dreier in the sale of fictitious promissory notes to various hedge funds.
Kosta Kovachev, 57, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and one count of wire fraud. The Government also seeks to forfeit the funds Kovachev received from Dreier as payment for his fraudulent activities.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – A former Florida hedge fund manager is being held without bail in a West Palm Beach prison after prosecutors convinced the judge he is a flight risk.
Attorneys for Won-Sok Lee were seeking a continuance for his arraignment on Friday so that he could find a local lawyer.
Lee and his company, The KL Group, were accused of swindling over $200 million out of investors through their hedge funds back in 2006. He was arrested in February after trying to board a plane from Seoul to Argentina after spending three years on the run.
Lee and his brothers, who are currently serving lengthy prison terms, ran hedge funds out of locations in Florida and Nevada from 2000 to 2005.
Lee is facing dozens of charges, including conspiracy, money laundering, and mail and wire fraud. His next hearing is scheduled for April 17.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. www.hedgefundlounge.com, www.hedgefundtools.com, and www.hedgefundemployment.com
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Won Sok Lee will face a U.S. trial after fleeing for three years following the discovery of his bogus Florida hedge fund. The KL Group allegedly defrauded about $200 million out of investors over the course of five years. Lee appeared for the first time in a West Palm Beach, Florida court on Friday since his indictment in 2006.
Lee has been hit with dozens of charges including money laundering, mail fraud, conspiracy and wire fraud.
“Almost from its inception, the main fund suffered losses in each and every quarter of its existence,” said prosecutors.
Still, the fund managed to raise almost $200 million from 2000 to 2005. Lee, along with his brothers Jung Bae Kim and Yung Bae Kim, ran these hedge funds from locations in Florida and Nevada. The SEC caught wind of the suspicious activity in 2005, when they seized the company and appointed a receiver. Assets recovered only totaled $6.6 million, with only a portion of that amount actually returned to the investors.
Lee’s brothers were both sentenced to hefty terms. Jung Bae will serve 18 years while Yung Bae was sentenced to six years.
Lee was seized in February at an airport in Seoul after trying to board a flight to Argentina. Though his bail hearing is set for next Friday, prosecutors are trying to convey the fact that he is still a flight risk.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. www.hedgefundlounge.com, www.hedgefundtools.com, and www.hedgefundemployment.com
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Texas Resident George D. Hudgins must pay $71 million following a federal court order obtained by the CFTC, to pay back victims of his Ponzi scheme and to settle a $15 million penalty.
According to the original complaint, Hudgins swindled about $88 million from June 2001 to May 2008, in a commodity pool operation that was supposed to trade futures and options. Hudgins told investors that his fund was reaping returns of up to 99 percent annually, when in reality, the pool had experienced a net loss since its inception in December 2003, and had lost a total of about $28 million.
In typical Ponzi scheme fashion, Hudgins used about $17 million from the pool to pay “returns” to existing investors and keep up the façade. In addition, he doctored the account statements to reflect a stellar performance. Other funds from the pool were withdrawn by Hudgins to pay for his extravagant lifestyle, which included Tiffany jewelry, antique sports cars, real estate and a plane.
When a judge froze the assets of Hudgins and appointed a receiver to distribute the funds, only $24 million was collected.
Last September, Hudgins pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. He was sentenced last month to serve 121 months in a federal prison.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. www.hedgefundlounge.com, www.hedgefundtools.com, and www.hedgefundemployment.com
BusinessWeek – A prominent Manhattan lawyer accused of peddling $700 million in phony securities to hedge funds will likely forgo a trial and change his plea to guilty, his attorney told a judge Thursday.
The defense announcement came at a hearing at which Marc Dreier pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment accusing him of money laundering in addition to previous charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit those crimes.
Hindustan Times - Bernard Madoff, whose $50-billion fraud devastated individual and institutional investors worldwide, could spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty later this week.
In a court hearing Tuesday, defence lawyer Ira Sorkin said that Madoff would plead guilty Thursday in federal court in New York. The news confirmed recent reports that Madoff was expected to enter a guilty plea.
At the hearing, Assistant US Attorney Marc Litt said that Madoff faces 11 criminal counts including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Litt said that Madoff faces up to 150 years in prison on the charges under federal sentencing guidelines, The Wall Street Journal reported online.
Herald Tribune – As Arthur G. Nadel made his way to New York Thursday under the watchful eye of U.S. marshals, the clock ticked away on the 30-day time limit faced by prosecutors to indict the man accused of a hedge fund swindle before they would have to set him free.
Nadel, accused of looting tens of millions of dollars from six hedge funds he operated from downtown Sarasota, has been ordered to stand trial in New York on one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud.
