Hedge Fund Manager Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Federal Prison in Connection with Multi-Million

[TexasTowelie]

Hedge Fund Manager Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Federal Prison in Connection with Multi-Million Dollar Swindle


CHICAGO — A Connecticut investment manager has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for operating a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that swindled his friends and family members, including victims in the Chicago area.

ALVIN WILKINSON, the founder of Chicago Index Partners LP and Wilkinson Financial Opportunity Fund LP, both based in Sharon, Conn., persuaded at least 30 individuals, many of whom were his friends, family members and colleagues, to invest approximately $13.5 million in his funds. Wilkinson, who previously served as a director at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, claimed he would trade a portfolio of financial instruments on their behalf, including options and futures, and that his trading strategy made money regardless of market conditions.

In reality, Wilkinson did not maintain trading accounts for the funds, and he did not use investor funds to trade in options and futures. Wilkinson often used investor funds to cover personal expenses, and he later used the money to pay earlier investors through Ponzi-type payments. His fraud scheme began no later than 1999 and continued until 2016.

Wilkinson, 61, of Sharon, Conn., pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman on Thursday sentenced Wilkinson to seven years and four months in prison and ordered him to pay $8.032 million in restitution to the victims.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/hedge-fund-manager-sentenced-more-7-years-federal-prison-connection-multi-million