International Law

Bayou Sentencing in Ponzi Scheme

Bayou Sentencing

"Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- James Marquez, co-founder of bankrupt hedge fund company Bayou Group LLC, was sentenced to 4 1/4 years in prison for his role in a fraud that cost investors more than $350 million and spurred calls for increased industry oversight.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said Marquez's creation of a sham accounting firm as part of the scheme was 'as reprehensible as anything in the storied history of securities fraud' and that his actions with co-founder Samuel Israel and finance chief Daniel Marino led to a 'massive Ponzi scheme.'

'I made a terrible choice to take the easy way out when things started to go wrong,' Marquez, 59, told McMahon today in Manhattan federal court. He must pay $6.2 million in restitution in addition to his sentence, which was nine months less than the maximum under federal guidelines."

A terrible choice to take the easy way out? Tell it to the French Rogue Trader.

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on January 30, 2008 (boomark / email).