(AP) — The former president of a Chicago-based private equity firm WexTrust has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud, admitting he misspent millions of dollars in investor money.Steven Byers entered the guilty plea in federal court in Manhattan Tuesday. He agreed that millions of dollars raised from investors since at least 2003 was not used as promised.Prosecutors say Byers and others took $9.2 million from investors to buy seven commercial properties but never bought them, using the money instead for other purposes.
Posts Tagged ‘Prosecutors’
Ex-WexTrust CEO pleads guilty to fraud
April 13th, 2010 
Before You Invest 
Posted in Finance Fraud 
Tags: 18 Years, Byers, Ceo, Conspiracy, Former President, Guilty Plea, Investor Money, Investors, Manhattan, Oak Brook, Plea Agreement, Prison Term, Private Equity Firm, Prosecutors, Securities Fraud, Wextrust 
Comments OffMadoff Aide Daniel Bonventre Is Indicted for Fraud
March 25th, 2010 Before You Invest (Bloomberg) — Bernard M. Madoff’s ex-operations chief, who was arrested last month, was indicted by a federal grand jury for helping his boss run a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors and illegally infused $750 million into parts of the business that Madoff insisted was legitimate.Daniel Bonventre, 63, is the sixth person charged in the largest-ever U.S.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 5 Million, Accountant, Billions Of Dollars, Computer Operators, Cr, Federal Grand Jury, Fraud, George Perez, Indictment, Investment Securities, Lieutenant, New York Manhattan, O Hara, Operations Chief, Ponzi Scheme, Prosecutors, Queens New York, Regulators, Sixth Person, Southern District Of New York Comments OffBank Chief Accused of TARP Fraud
March 16th, 2010 Before You Invest The former president of New York’s small Park Avenue Bank was arrested on fraud charges, one of the first such cases involving a TARP recipient. The bank was shut Friday.Charles J. Antonucci Sr., the former president and chief executive of the Park Avenue Bank of New York, made fake statements to regulators in an effort to obtain about $11 million from the U.S.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Antonucci, Bank Bailout, Bank Chief, Bank Fraud, Bank Of New York, Chief Executive, Economic Meltdown, False Statements, First Person, Former President, Fraud Charges, Hps, Park Avenue Bank, Prosecutors, Recipient, Regulators, Verge, Wsj Comments OffMadoff Executive is Charged in Ponzi Scheme
February 25th, 2010 Before You Invest The long-time director of operations for convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff’s defunct firm was arrested and charged criminally Thursday with allegedly directing that fake accounting entries be made in the firm’s books to hide Mr. Madoff’s fraud. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan charged Daniel Bonventre, former operations director at Bernard L.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Accounting Fraud, Bernard Madoff, Broker Dealer, Conspiracy, Director Of Operations, False Appearance, Federal Tax, Financial Losses, Fraud Charges, Investment Securities, Investor Money, Magistrate Judge, Operations Director, Prosecutors, S Books, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Securities Fraud, Sixth Person, Time Director Comments OffBernie Madoff family members under investigation for tax fraud
February 12th, 2010 Before You Invest Bernie Madoff’s brother and his two sons are under investigation for alleged tax fraud, it has been reported.Insider sources told the Wall Street Journal that Peter Madoff, the brother of the notorious Ponzi scheme fraudster, and sons Andrew and Mark Madoff are under investigation from US prosecutors.Peter Madoff was chief compliance officer of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities, while the two sons helped run the company’s market-making unit, which was not involved in the multi-billion Ponzi scheme.But, the nature of the alleged offences has not been revealed, while representatives of the three men have denied they had any knowledge of fraudulent activities.Last September, the three men, along with a niece of Bernie Madoff, were targeted in a $198 million lawsuit pertaining to the Ponzi scheme.The court-appointed trustee Irving Picard claimed that all four of them held executive positions within the firm and should have known about the fraud, which went on for 20 years.”Whether or not they have a criminal problem we will pursue them as far as we can pursue them,” said Mr Picard at the time.”If that leads to bankrupting them – then that’s what will happen.”
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Bernie Madoff, Chief Compliance Officer, Executive Positions, Family Members, Fraudster, Fraudulent Activities, Insider Sources, Investment Securities, Last September, Niece, Peter Madoff, Picard, Ponzi Scheme, Prosecutors, S Market, Sons Andrew, Tax Fraud, Three Men, Trustee, Wall Street Journal Comments OffItaly Seizes Bank of America, Dexia Assets in Derivatives Probe
February 3rd, 2010 Before You Invest (Bloomberg) — Italy’s financial police are seizing 73.3 million euros ($102 million) of assets from Bank of America Corp. and a unit of Dexia SA as part of a probe into an alleged derivatives fraud in the region of Apulia.The police are sequestering a further 30 million euros that the municipality was set to place in a fund managed by the banks on Feb.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 30 Million, Bank Of America, Bank Of America Corp, Bank Of Italy, Bloomberg Financial, Borrowings, Charlotte North Carolina, Crediop, Derivatives Losses, Dexia, E Mail, Economic Advantage, Financial Police, Italian Municipalities, Italian Unit, Jpmorgan Chase, Prosecutor, Prosecutors, Swaps, Ubs Ag Comments OffSeven more indicted in Galleon case
January 23rd, 2010 Before You Invest Seven more people have been indicted in the Galleon Group insider trading ring court case.Previously only two people had been indicted – Danielle Chiesi and Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam.Another seven people have already entered guilty pleas in regard to the case.Among those brought before a grand jury this week are Zvi Goffer, a former Galleon Group employee who went on to found trading firm Incremental Capital.Prosecutors have claimed that Mr Goffer played a leading role in the insider trading – he is alleged to have passed out prepaid phones to tippers to limit the chances of them getting caught.He was also nicknamed ‘Octopussy’ by investigators on the grounds of his reported ability at getting hold of insider information.Others charged in the latest indictment include Mr Goffer’s brother Emanuel, Incremental workers Michael Kimelman and David Plate and two lawyers, Jason Goldfarb and Arthur Cutillo.Last month, insiders told Bloomberg that Galleon Group is to shut down its operations in Singapore as the company is place through liquidation.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Chiesi, Court Case, Emanuel, Galleon, Galleon Group, Goffer, Goldfarb, Grand Jury, Group Employee, Group Founder, Guilty Pleas, Indictment, Insider Information, Insider Trading, Insiders, Octopussy, Prepaid Phones, Prosecutors, Raj Rajaratnam, Zvi Comments OffRaj Rajaratnam made at least $36 million from insider trading
January 7th, 2010 Before You Invest Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group, made “at least” $36 million in profits from his insider trading ring, US prosecutors have claimed.This is double the $17 million amount initially alleged when Mr Rajaratnam was first arrested in October last year.He is said to have made the money through stock trades that were aided by inside information by hedge fund and company executives.The claim was made in a court filing opposing an application made by Mr Rajaratnam for a reduction in his $100 million bail, reports Bloomberg.A total of 21 people have been arrested in connection with two overlapping insider trading rings, with six pleading guilty so far.Mr Rajaratnam is due to appear in court on Friday (January 8th 2010) in relation to the bail plea.Last month, Mr Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi both entered not guilty pleas on the charges against them.
Credit Suisse sues former exec for stealing confidential information
December 21st, 2009 Before You Invest Credit Suisse Securities is suing one of its former vice presidents over allegations that he stole its method for valuing companies and then tried to patent it as his own invention.David Trainer left the company in October 2000 to set up his own research company and received a $168,000 severance package from the financial institution.Credit Suisse claims that he broke the terms of the deal by using its own research model for his new private equity firm, Trainer and New Constructs.The case centres around the Valuesearch product, which gives clients who use it an advantage over their competitors by focusing only on the most reliable market data.Earlier this week, Credit Suisse agreed to pay a $536 million settlement in relation to allegations that the company illegally helped clients in countries under US sanctions to carry out financial transactions with American companies.Prosecutors told Reuters that the company had been involved in the practice for decades, helping companies from Iran, Libya and Sudan.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Allegations, Confidential Credit, Confidential Information, Credit Suisse, Decades, Exec, Financial Institution, Financial Transactions, Information Credit, Invention, Iran, Libya, Patent, Private Equity Firm, Prosecutors, Research Model, Reuters, Severance Package, Sudan, Vice Presidents No Comments »Allen Stanford trial set for 2011
December 19th, 2009 Before You Invest The trial of alleged fraudster Allen Stanford will not take place until 2011, a judge has ruled.Mr Stanford is accused of carrying out a $7 billion Ponzi scheme at his offshore bank in Antigua.As he is deemed a flight risk by US authorities, he will spend the year before his January 2011 trial in custody.The start date of the trial was a compromise between prosecutors, who wished to start the trial in September 2010, while defence lawyers were pushing for a summer 2011 date in order to better prepare their case.His chief financial officer James Davis has already pleaded guilty to fraud while Mr Stanford himself has denied all charges.
