Tech Investor Faces New Fraud Charges
Alberto Vilar, a once-highflying philanthropist and technology investor, was indicted Tuesday on new charges related to alleged cheating of clients.
A grand jury in New York charged Vilar, 64, with 10 counts, including new charges of conspiracy to commit fraud as well as a count of wire fraud, in an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The new charges were added to Vilar’s original indictment filed in June, which contained eight counts, including four charges of money laundering as well as investment advisor fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud.
For the first time, Vilar and Gary Tanaka, co-founders of Amerindo Advisors Inc., face the same charges under the same indictment.
The men are accused of scheming to defraud $5 million from a longtime Vilar friend and client, identified as Lily Cates, mother of actress Phoebe Cates.
From 2002 to 2005, Vilar persuaded his client to invest the $5 million in an Amerindo-sponsored small-business investment company, but instead Vilar and Tanaka used the funds for their own benefit as well as that of others, according to the indictment.
Vilar, an arts patron who has donated millions to opera groups and cultural centers around the world, has had financial difficulty since his arrest May 26. He spent nearly a month in prison before friends eventually helped him secure a $10-million bond. He also recently switched lawyers and for a short time faced the prospect of having to apply for a court-appointed lawyer when it was unclear whether he could demonstrate the financial ability to secure new counsel.
Vilar made his name investing in technology stocks in the late-1990s boom, only to see his investments crumble beginning in 2000.
Vilar’s lawyer, Jeffrey C. Hoffman, and Victor J. Rocco, who represented Tanaka when he was originally charged, did not return voicemail messages seeking comment. A message left at the Manhattan home of Tanaka’s son, where Tanaka is confined to home detention, was not returned.
An earlier criminal complaint accused Tanaka of stealing $3.28 million from investors to buy racehorses. The new indictment doesn’t make that allegation.
