Connecticut Hedge Fund Manager Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Scheme

New Canaan, CTA hedge fund executive in Connecticut recently pleaded guilty to fraud counts and other charges for his role in a significant Ponzi scheme, The Associated Press reports.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">According to the news source, 42-year-old Francisco Illarramendi of New Canaan faces up to 70 years in prison as well as restitution to investors who were allegedly victimized in the scheme, which prosecutors say could result in millions of dollars in losses for the investors.

"While the precise dollar losses will not be known for some time, based on this fast-moving investigation, we believe this case represents the largest white-collar prosecution ever brought by this office," Connecticut US Attorney David B. Fein said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors claimed that Illarramendi conducted the Ponzi scheme from approximately 2006 until last month. He was reportedly an executive at Stamford-based Michael Kenwood Capital Management.

The prosecutors added that Illarramendi had basically committed the same crimes as Bernard Madoff, who is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence for his Ponzi scheme that cost investors billions of dollars, according to the news source.