Investor Vilar Indicted in Stolen Funds Case
Arts patron and investor Alberto Vilar was indicted Thursday by a grand jury after U.S. prosecutors charged Vilar two weeks ago with stealing $5 million from a longtime client and friend.
The grand jury charged Vilar with eight counts of fraud and money laundering in an indictment that was the same as a complaint filed two weeks ago in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Vilar, whose early calls on technology stocks such as Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and others before they soared in the late 1990s made him rich, was arrested May 26. His investment firm, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc., rescinded his authority and appointed a company to manage its mutual fund.
Vilar has been unable to meet $10-million bail and has been jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Forbes magazine estimated Vilar was a billionaire a few years ago, but his lawyer said last week that he had less than $10,000 in a bank account and a tax lien on a luxurious Manhattan apartment.
Calls to Vilar’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, were not immediately returned.
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