New York (HedgeCo.net) – William Shternfeld and Benjamin Koifman have been sentenced in a NY court to 63 months each in prison for participating in a conspiracy to defraud investors of more than $18 million through a fraudulent hedge fund, the FBI reports.
Both men pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud. Manhattan United States Attorney Preet Bharara said: “William Shternfeld and Benjamin Koifman preyed on the elderly to entice them into investing in their so-called fund.”
The fund in question is the AR. Capital Global Fund, LP. (“ARC Global Fund”), a purported hedge fund. Investor funds were wired to various bank accounts in Eastern Europe. The FBI said that the pair were expert cold-callers who solicited the vast majority of the funds from the ARC Global Fund’s victims, many of whom were elderly and lost most, if not all, of their retirement savings.
The ARC Global Fund received more than $18 million in investments before being shut down in September 2006.
In addition to their prison terms, the Judge sentenced Shternfeld and Koifman, both of Marlboro, New Jersey, to three years of supervised release each. He also ordered each to forfeit $7 million, which constitutes proceeds from their crime.
Five defendants were previously convicted and sentenced for their involvement in the ARC Global Fund fraud. Yevgeny Shvartsshteyn and Igor Levin were each sentenced to 87 months in prison. Daniel Ledven, Edward Veisman, and Alan Fishman were sentenced to 57, 46, and 37 months in prison, respectively.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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