Florida Man Sentenced In Connection With Hedge Fund Fraud

miami.fbi.gov, Oct 11, 2006

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Don Saxon, Commissioner, Office of Financial Regulation, State of Florida, announced today that defendant Anthony Giordano, 30, of Deerfield Beach, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge William J. Zloch in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to 120 months imprisonment, and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $5,509,594 to the victims of his fraudulent schemes.

Giordano's first scheme victimized several investors, including two religious organizations, all of whom lost millions of dollars in a purported hedge fund, EPG Limited Partners, LTD. Instead of investing the monies in securities, defendant Giordano converted millions of dollars for other uses, including personal gain.

Giordano's second scheme involved the market manipulation of the common stock of Weida Communication, Inc., a publicly-traded company. Giordano manipulated the market price for Weida common stock to about $5 per share, in part to facilitate the sale of Weida stock in private transactions at about $3 per share. Investors lost over $5 million as a result of both fraudulent schemes. As part of the plea agreement, Giordano transferred over $2 million to the Registry of the Court for the purpose of making restitution.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rolando Garcia. Read more at fbi.gov