Friday, February 8, 2013

K1 Hedge Fund Founder Indicted in $311 Mln Fraud




K1 Group founder Helmut Kiener, who was convicted in Germany of defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme, was indicted by the U.S. for his role in a $311 million fraud, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia told Bloomberg.

Kiener, a German national, was charged today with four counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering based on allegations that he devised a scheme to defraud Bear Stearns Cos. using hedge funds in the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Kiener’s partner John Tausche, 61, of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, was charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering.

Kiener, 53, was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison after confessing to using new investors’ money to make up for losses in the wake of the financial crisis.  K1’s funds are being liquidated in the British Virgin Islands. Kiener’s personal assets were placed in insolvency proceedings in Germany, where he is incarcerated.

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