The Ponzi scheme was merged with the operations of an American fraudster Terry Dowdell in 2001, creating a transatlantic scam that the SFO believes defrauded investors of over $200 million.
Dowdell is serving a 15 year sentence in the United States for financial crimes.
His arrest in 2002 caused the Ponzi scheme’s funds to be frozen by US authorities.
The SFO believes that White and Gangar transferred $250,000 to a US bank account that year in the hopes of bribing a government official, possible even the Attorney General, to release the money.
A date for sentencing has yet to be set and the SFO will seek a confiscation order to seize assets bought with the proceeds of the crime.
do not know about the SFO, but the American SEC is seriously understaffed. Unless the new President makes a dramatic increase in the size of the SEC’s examination and enforcement staffs a top priority, hundred of thousands, if not millions, of Americans will lose their life savings under the next administration. http://investorswatchdog.com/blog/investorswatchblog/?p=152
Two accountants have been found guilty of a £100m investment fraud in which they told victims that celebrities were involved in the bogus trading scheme.
Alan White, 49, of Edwalton, Nottingham, and Shinder Gangar, 46, of Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire, had denied conspiracy to defraud. They were convicted after an eight month trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
The court heard they falsely told victims that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir David Frost were investors. Both the composer and the broadcaster gave evidence at the trial and told the jury they were not involved and had no knowledge that their names had been used.
The court heard White and Gangar ran a bogus scheme using new clients' money to fund interest payments to existing customers, meaning there was no underlying trading in investments. They also used victims' funds to buy property, give unsecured loans to acquaintances and pay into other investment schemes. The men ran the accountancy firm Dobb White & Co which had offices in Leicester and Nottingham. They had denied conspiracy to defraud between December 1996 and October 2005 and a charge of conspiracy to commit corruption in 2002.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) estimated that the total fraud involved sums of more than £100m. Speaking after the hearing, Kwadjo Adjepong, from the SFO, said: "Given that this investigation involved liaison with a number of foreign jurisdictions and the hard work that has gone into bringing this case by the SFO legal team and investigators, and Leicestershire Constabulary's economic crime unit, we are pleased with this result."
Arthur Nadel, the Florida hedge-fund adviser Scoop Management and Scoop Capital LLC. Scoop was created by Nadel himself. Viking and Valhalla were created by unnamed partners
The SEC case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Nadel, 09-cv-00087, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida (Tampa). The criminal case is U.S.A. v. Nadel, 09-mag-169, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Nadel traded for three funds established by partnerships Valhalla Management and Viking Management and three funds established by Scoop Management and Scoop Capital LLC. Scoop was created by Nadel himself. Viking and Valhalla were created by unnamed partners. More than 100 investors gave money to the funds, the SEC said.
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Arthur Nadel, the Florida hedge-fund adviser who disappeared 13 days ago, was arrested and charged with defrauding investors of tens of millions of dollars.
Nadel, 76, surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation today in Tampa, Florida, said Monica McLean, an agency spokeswoman. U.S. regulators last week accused Nadel, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, of defrauding clients while overstating six funds’ investments by $300 million.
The fraud may have been uncovered because of the unrelated arrest on Dec. 11 of fund manager Bernard Madoff for duping investors out of $50 billion, the FBI said in a criminal complaint that was unsealed today in Manhattan federal court.