Legal News

Dreier Co-conspirator Sentenced to 46 Months

By Nathan Koppel

Here at the Law Blog, when we start coverage of an attorney-led fraud, we see it through to the bitter end.

It is with that journalistic principle in mind that we bring you news today about Kosta Kovachev, a co-conspirator of Marc Dreier (pictured), who pleaded guilty last year to helping the former high-flying esquire sell fake promissory notes to hedge funds.

Kovachev pretended that he worked in the finance department Solow Realty, a purported issuer of Dreier-marketed promissory notes, and later impersonated Solow's then chief executive. Dreier paid Kovachev $215,000 for the impersonations; an amount Kovachev was ordered to pay back today as part of his sentence.

In handing down a 46-month prison sentence, New York federal judge Naomi Reice Buchwald today said that Kovachev played more than a minor role in the conspiracy. "He wasn't simply an interchangeable cog in a conspiracy," she said at the sentencing hearing.

"I accept responsibility," Kovachev said. "I deluded myself in thinking I was going to a job" with Dreier.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).