Westchester Hedge Fund Manager Pleads Guilty To Securities Fraud

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/westchester-hedge-fund-manager-pleads-guilty-securities-fraud

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 15, 2018

Westchester Hedge Fund Manager Pleads Guilty To Securities Fraud

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MICHAEL SCRONIC, a former hedge fund manager, pleaded guilty today to securities fraud before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel. SCRONIC admitted as part of his plea that he had defrauded the 45 investors in his Scronic Macro Fund of more than $22 million.
(snip)

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment and other court documents, SCRONIC, raised more than $22 million from 45 investors in the Scronic Macro Fund (the “Fund”) from April 2010 to the October 2017. SCRONIC told investors that the Fund had positive returns in all but one of the 22 quarters from January 2012 through June 2017, with the highest reported quarterly return being 13.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. In reality, the Fund lost money in 28 out of 29 quarters of its operation, with a total net loss of about $15.7 million before commissions. The Fund’s only positive quarter was its first quarter of operation in 2010.

As a result of these trading losses, the total assets SCRONIC claimed the Fund had in each quarter far exceeded its actual assets. For example, SCRONIC sent account statements to investors that together showed total fund assets of $21.7 million as of June 30, 2017. In actuality, on that date, the combined balance of SCRONIC’s brokerage and bank accounts was just $102,376.

In addition to losing money on trades, SCRONIC used investor money for personal expenses. His personal expenditures averaged more than $500,000 including monthly rent of $12,275 for his primary residence in Westchester, New York, mortgage payments on a vacation home in Stratton, Vermont, fees for multiple beach and country clubs, including a $30,000 payment to the Stratton Mountain Club in July 2017, and miscellaneous items charged to credit cards in amounts averaging more than $15,000 a month.

As of the summer of 2017, SCRONIC was unable to pay redemptions requested by Fund investors because he did not have sufficient funds on hand. He told investors seeking redemptions that he would pay redemptions only at quarter end, that he was too busy and preoccupied with a relative’s medical condition to pay redemptions, and that he was unavailable to pay redemptions because he was on vacation. In some cases, SCRONIC ignored redemption requests.
(snip)

[janterry]

1. I wonder how much time he gets

I see max is 20 years.