Beverly Hills Investment Manager Sentenced For Fraud
Michael E. McCready, a Beverly Hills investment advisor and licensed securities broker of McCready & Associates, was sentenced Monday to a nine year prison term for swindling twenty-five investors (mostly friends of his from the entertainment industry) out of $10 million. According to the lawsuit filed in 2009, McCready operated a Ponzi scheme from 2004 to 2009 under the guise that he was investing in “safe, secure investments” including what he called a profitable private hedge fund (Horizons Opportunity Fund).
However, according to CNN.com,
Instead, McCready used the money to pay for his rent, vehicle leases and travel expenses; finance production of a movie; and develop businesses, the Justice Department said.
When the scheme collapsed, McCready’s clients lost more than $8 million, according to the Justice Department.
McCready pleaded guilty to a securities fraud charge in November. In doing so, McCready admitted that he stole investor funds for himself, and that the hedge fund never existed. To hide his theft, McCready sent fake account statements to investors and paid Ponzi-type payments to some of them.
According to CNN,
In sentencing Michael McCready, U.S. District Judge George King called him a “thief” and said the bogus investment scheme “caused substantial, and in some cases, life-altering harm” to the affected clients.
In addition to sentencing McCready to 9 years in prison, the judge ordered him to repay $8 million is restitution. He is to begin serving his sentence May 17.
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