Actor/lawyer gets 20 yrs Award
How many lawyers have their own Wikipedia page (other than the ones that submit their own one out of vanity of false disbelief it will bring business)? Actors do, musicians do, but lawyers (or financial crime experts)? Marc Dreier has one. To be honest; he was actually closer to being a succesful actor than anyone would have thought possible.
New York attorney Dreier, who pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding hedge funds of about $700 million back in May 2009, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison. The charges: securities and wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. On top of that he will repay more than $380 million and sees millions forfeited .
Prosecutors alleged and proved that from 2002 to 2008, he sold fake promissory notes and misappropriated client funds from his New York City based law firm. Losses to Dreier’s clients and purchasers of the various fake notes exceeded $400 million, but Dreier himself collected over $700 million in profits from the fake sales, prosecutors said. According to court documents filed last week by the U.S. attorney’s office, “He impersonated clients — in person and on the phone — and recruited others to execute elaborate charades.” Dreier was arrested at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in December 2008 upon returning from Canada, where he attempted to impersonate one of his clients in order to sell a $44.7 million note, according to prosecutors.
In November, 2008, Dreier allegedly claimed that one of his bigger clients, Solow, was looking to raise $500 million by selling short-term, high-interest notes which audit report, Dreier had allegedly forged. The report had been used to try to dupe a hedge fund, Whippoorwill Associates, into buying bogus Solow Realty promissory notes. In October, Fund managers, who had bought $115 million of the notes in 2006 or 2007, had demanded the meeting at Solow’s offices when they weren’t repaid on schedule. Dreier arranged it with Kovachev, posing as Solow’s controller. That same month, Dreier allegedly sent a Connecticut hedge fund’s managing director documents that he said were Solow’s audited financial statements, and the fund bought a forged $25 million note, for $13.5 million. Dreier allegedly sent a New York hedge fund the same documents he’d given the Connecticut fund, but portfolio managers wanted more information. Dreier forwarded four e-mails that purported to be from other funds that had purchased Solow notes, as well as a Dreier LLP opinion letter vouching for the notes. A portfolio manager subsequently asked to speak directly to someone at Solow Realty. Dreier scheduled a conference call for Oct. 23, and provided a telephone number located in the conference room at Dreier LLP’s offices in Stamford CT. Kovachev allegedly got on the phone, and, pretending to be Solow CEO Steven Cherniak, answered questions about the notes and Solow’s finances. The next day the hedge fund bought about $100 million in notes. Both the Connecticut and New York funds were dubious and brought their doubts to Solow Realty and its audit firm. In November, one hedge fund manager told Dreier that he’d called Solow Realty, and copied him on an e-mail to Solow about the notes. Solow’s attorneys subsequently contacted federal authorities, that Mr. Dreier might be engaged in financial fraud.
With hindsight, Dreier probably deserved his Wikipedia ‘famous actor’ site. Perhaps an Academy Award made of lead is appropriate?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Stuart_Dreier
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/13/new.york.dreier.sentenced/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aGRZG4OBF7CA
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/nyregion/14lawyer.html?_r=1
