A former U.S. hedge fund manager has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in his fund.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Nicholas Joseph Genovese was sentenced to 140 months in federal prison. Last October, Genovese pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud.
In addition to the prison time, Genovese was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution to his victims, in addition to forfeiting the proceeds of his crime.
According to authorities, Genovese raised US$11.2 million from investors for a hedge fund that he founded, Willow Creek Investments LP, “by misrepresenting his qualifications and professional background and concealing that he had prior felony convictions for fraud-related crimes.”
“Genovese brazenly lied to his victims, falsely claiming that he was an heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, that he had an Ivy League MBA, and that he had served in senior roles at major Wall Street firms. In reality, Genovese was a repeat offender with nine prior criminal convictions for fraud-related and other crimes,” said U.S attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.