Money Matters, Simplified.
Marc Dreier sentenced to 20 years for financial frauds
by Neka Sehgal - July 14, 2009 - comments
In a letter to Rakoff, Dreier disclosed, “All of this left me feeling overwhelmed -- by my debt, by a disappointing career, by a failed marriage. And so, incomprehensibly, in 2002 I started stealing”
New York, July 14: Tarnished lawyer Marc S. Dreier, has been ordered to serve 20 years behind bars for defrauding hedge funds of more than $400 million and stealing money from his clients.
Dreier was arrested in Toronto on Dec. 2 and charged with impersonating a lawyer with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
In May he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering and five counts of wire fraud in a scheme that duped hedge funds and other investors into making investments in hundreds of millions of dollars in fake promissory notes, or loans.
According to court documents filed last week by the U.S. attorney's office, "He impersonated clients -- in person and on the phone -- and recruited others to execute elaborate charades."
Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment
Dreier’s lawyers asked the court to sentence him to only 10 years in prison while prosecutors demanded imprisonment of 145 years for him.
Judge Jed Rakoff sentenced him 20 years in prison, which was obviously much shorter than expected.
In addition, Dreier was ordered to pay more than $387 million in restitution and to forfeit more than $746 million "in proceeds of his offenses, including real estate, vehicles, bank accounts and a number of works of art," according to the news release.
About Marc S. Dreier
Dreier, 59, graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He started his own law firm in 1996 and grew the firm to about 270 lawyers with offices in New York, Los Angeles and before the stunning collapse last year.
Marc Dreier used the investor’s money to maintain his luxury lifestyle. He had an ocean view luxury apartment on the Upper East Side New York. He had many expensive cars including a 121- foot yacht and $40 million contemporary-art collections including Picasso and Warhol's works.
Shame and remorse
Apologizing to his employees, clients and investors Dreier stated, "At this point all I can do is express my shame and remorse. I'm sorry to all the people I stole from. I'm sorry to the clients I betrayed. I'm sorry to the lawyers at my law firm for dishonoring their profession.”
In a letter to Rakoff, he disclosed that expenses of his law firm and divorce had left him heavy debt, but conceded that this was no excuse for his crimes.
Dreier wrote, “All of this left me feeling overwhelmed -- by my debt, by a disappointing career, by a failed marriage. And so, incomprehensibly, in 2002 I started stealing.”