Thursday, February 17, 2011

Our very own (alleged) ponzi schemer also (allegedly) bilked the Christodora House



Law enforcement officials are on the hunt for "fugitive hedge-fund manager" Brian Kim, who the DA charged with running a $4 million Ponzi scheme. (He may be hiding in Italy, according to reports. More here from the Journal.)

The 35-year-old founder of Liquid Capital Management also happened to live in the East Village — the Christodora House on Avenue B. More details on Kim, a CNBC pundit on Asian futures derivatives trading, are starting to emerge.

From the Post today:

The Manhattan DA's office discovered Kim was missing after he failed to show up for a Jan. 4 trial as part of earlier charges, where he stood accused of stealing $435,000 from the Christodora House.

In regards to the condo funds, Kim allegedly falsified documents identifying himself as the president-secretary of the condo association, allowing him to transfer $435,000 from the association's bank account to a bank account he set up for Liquid Capital. Within a month of making the transfers, he depleted all the money he had stolen — trading most of it away.

Kim was arrested in 2009 as part of that scheme, which led to an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into his hedge-fund business, which focuses on futures trading.
He now faces three indictments for stealing money from his condominium association, jumping bail and financial fraud.

If you spot Kim, then please call Joe Kernen.

[Image via CNBC]

The Daily News had the story yesterday, though I can't get their site to load today.

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