Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A Chicago investment manager who engineered a sophisticated Ponzi scheme to rob gullible friends and family of millions to feed his extravagant lifestyle was sentenced to six years in prison July 2.
Neal Goyal, 34, of Chicago, former managing member and founder of Blue Horizon Asset Management, LLC, and Caldera Advisors, LLC, wept in court as his relatives and friends looked on scornfully listening to him apologize for the massive fraud. Goyal was also ordered to pay more than $9.2 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois Matthew F. Kennelly. Goyal, who pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud, was ordered to surrender to begin serving his sentence on September 17, a release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois said.
Goyal tearfully apologized at the sentencing hearing, Chicago Tribune reported, as some of the victims of his fraud scoffed when he said “every dollar I spent that was not my own, made m sick.” Trusting family members, including his parents both of whom are physicians and respected members of a tight-knit Hindu community, were robbed by Goyal, according to the Tribune report. Several victims told the judge how the young man gained their trust and broke it. Some families lost the money saved for college education, others for retirement or medical bills.
Meanwhile, he lived the high life, spending millions on luxury car leases and vacations to Hawaii and Tahiti, buying a $1.5 million home in an expensive neighborhood, and keeping his high-end Michigan Avenue office that boasted views of the Chicago River.
Goyal committed the fraud from 2006 to 2014, by setting up a fake trading shop on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and fooling relatives and friends into believing that his trading strategy would bring huge paybacks way above regular market returns. He hid his scheme by using existing investor money to repay investors, and by creating and distributing false account statements.
The post Six Years Prison for Fund Manager Who Defrauded Family, Friends appeared first on News India Times.
