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No Bail for Arthur Nadel
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(February 3, 2009 - Tuesday) - http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/4659
Accused Florida scammer Arthur Nadel was refused bail by a U.S. Magistrate judge on Friday. Nadel, who is accused of cheating his investors out of as much as $350 million, was on the run for two weeks before he surrendered to the FBI in Tampa last Tuesday.
Nadel was president of Scoop Management Inc., a firm that managed six private investment funds. The funds managed by Scoop included Viking IRA, Valhalla Investment Partners LP, Viking, Victory, Victory IRA and Scoop Real Estate. Viking IRA, Valhalla and Viking funds were managed by Nadel under contract with his partner and Valhalla founder Neil Moody. The other three were Nadel’s own funds. Scoop Management managed money for around 600 investors.
Nadel disappeared a day before he was to deliver a $50 million payout to investors. He left his family a purported suicide note, but it was always suspected that Nadel was alive and on the run. Since his disappearance, scores of angry investors have made complaints to law enforcement authorities about Nadel.
Following his arrest, the FBI charged Nadel with one count each of securities fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, Nadel could face maximum of 20 years in prison on each charge.
At a hearing in Tampa yesterday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo denied Nadel’s request for bail, saying there was no good explanation for his 2-week disappearance. “There is a quantifiable risk and simple house arrest with electronic monitoring doesn’t resolve the matter,” Pizzo said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also charged Nadel with securities fraud. According to the SEC’s complaint, the funds Nadel managed appear to have total assets of less than $1 million. The complaint also alleges that Nadel recently transferred at least $1.25 million from two of the funds to secret bank accounts that he controlled. According to the SEC, Nadel overstated the value of the funds by $300 million. The SEC has obtained an emergency court order freezing Nadel’s assets and appointing a receiver.
The SEC also filed emergency action against investment advisors Valhalla Management and Viking Management, as well as the six hedge funds involved in the case: Scoop Real Estate, Valhalla Investment Partners, Victory IRA Fund, Victory Fund, Viking IRA Fund and Viking Fund. Without admitting or denying the allegations, each of the investment advisors and hedge funds involved in the investigation have consented to the entry of preliminary injunctions, asset freezes and the appointment of a receiver, among other things, the SEC said.
Also on Friday, a court appointed receiver won an order seizing $120,000 investigators believe came from the alleged fraud. The U.S. District Court Judge who issued the seizure order said the $120,000 in a Colonial Bank account in Orlando was “traceable to funds derived from a bank account in the name of Scoop Capital.”
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