Earlier:
Sewer Pipes
Nathan Vardi 02.12.07
Hedge funds are posting nice returns from deals that may involve ex-cons, stock scammers–even the Mob.
Some interesting excerpts:
Andrew Worden, 41, runs Barron Partners, a $150 million hedge fund that has invested $85 million in pipes since
2003. The fund flogs its expertise in microcap companies. It doesn’t promote the fact that Worden in 1994
pleaded guilty to wire fraud–he stiffed brokers on shares they bought for him that decreased in value–and served
two years’ probation. “I was 23 years old,” Worden says of his indiscretions, which were not prosecuted for five
years.
In March 2005 Barron Partners invested $1.5 million in Cordia Corp., a Winter Garden, Fla. Internet-phone outfit
54% owned by Alexander G. Minella, who in 1993 was sentenced to up to six years in prison. Minella, then
president of broker Wakefield Financial Corp., pleaded guilty to having “secretly rigged the trading in certain
Nasdaq securities” by getting brokers to trade among themselves to manipulate prices.
Corey Ribotsky, 36, heads N.I.R. Group, a handful of Roslyn, N.Y. hedge funds with $630 million under
management. His first business partner successfully sued him for stealing away their marketing and consulting
firm. The florist at Ribotsky’s wedding filed a $7,275 claim against him for failing to pay the bill.
And then here is some dirt on the managing partner of Laurus fund (Grins)
When it comes to dicey partners, though, few are as accomplished as the Grins. They financed Francis
O’Donnell, who has gotten to know the feds pretty well. Taking over as chief of Searchhound.com, an o-t-c
bulletin board stock in 2003, O’Donnell changed its name to Coach Industries, quickly built up a controlling stake
in the Cooper City, Fla. firm and started acquiring limousine companies. Laurus backed him with a $6 million loan.
On Jan. 5 O’Donnell pleaded guilty to being an associate of the Genovese crime family. The indictment also
claimed that an FBI agent posing as a drug dealer was asked to launder proceeds through Coach in exchange for
a fee. In addition O’Donnell is accused of luring a victim to his office, where Clement (Clemmie) Santoro allegedly
held a gun to his head and demanded a $1.5 million payment. |
