$100 million in swindled assets found, but where is the art?
NEW YORK (AP) – An official appointed to recover the assets of a prominent Manhattan lawyer accused of defrauding hedge funds of at least $400 million says he has safeguarded more than $100 million in assets, including an $18.5 million yacht. Certain artworks, however, are still missing.
The court-appointed receiver, Mark Pomerantz, outlined his findings about lawyer Marc Dreier and his 150-lawyer firm, Dreier LLP, in a report recently heard last Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Dreier, 58, was arrested in December on securities fraud charges. He remains under house arrest while his lawyer, Gerald Shargel, prepares what he says is likely to be a guilty plea for his client.
“The report speaks for itself and obviously reflects the fact my client cooperated with the receiver,” Shargel said during the court proceeding.
Pomerantz said Dreier received $670 million between 2004 and 2008 from the sale of fictitious securities, spending much of it on a lavish lifestyle that included millions of dollars in artwork, beachfront homes on both coasts and the yacht, Lady Seascape.
The receiver said Dreier’s law firm, despite appearances of profitability including rapid growth and new construction, was actually losing enormous amounts of money.
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