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Dotcom pair Alberto Vilar and Gary Tanaka are facing US jail sentences for fraud
Chris Blackhurst20.11.08
Two stars of the dot-com era, who were also big donors to London arts and education, face jail in the US after being found guilty of fraud.
Alberto Vilar, 68, co-founder of Amerindo Investment Advisers, faces up to 20 years in jail after being found guilty on all 12 counts of fraud and money-laundering against him. His partner in now-defunct Amerindo, Gary Tanaka, 65, was acquitted on nine of the 12 charges.
Amerindo, which was based in London, New York and San Francisco, had $10 billion (£6.6 billion) under management at one stage. Much of it was pumped into soar-away hi-tech stocks such as Microsoft, Cisco and Intel.
Hailed as heroes by their clients, they made fortunes for themselves in management fees. In 2000, Vilar was claiming to be "the largest supporter of classical music, opera, and ballet in the world". Among his gifts was £10 million to London's Royal Opera House for the Vilar Floral Hall, its showpiece foyer.
Tanaka, a Japanese-American who lives in south-west London rose to become one of the world's most successful racehorse owners. He committed to donating £27 million to Imperial College, his alma mater, for the new Tanaka Business School.
Their fortunes plummeted at the same time as the dot-com bubble burst. They were arrested in May 2005 after a client, heiress Lily Cates, claimed they had stolen $5 million from her. Cates had been an Amerindo client for 18 years.
They were charged in 2006. Prosecutors said that after tech shares crashed in October 2002, the partners were deep in debt and stole money from clients to pay their bills.
Prosecutors argued that Amerindo invested in risky stocks against the wishes of clients, offering investors a sham product in fixed-rate deposits. Vilar's attorney, Herald Price Fah-ringer, said he would appeal the verdict on behalf of his client.
"We are deeply disappointed by the jury's verdict," Fahringer said.
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