In federal court in Manhattan yesterday, attorney Marc Dreier pleaded guilty to charges that he carried out an outrageous fraud scheme that defrauded hedge funds and other investors out of at least $400 million. The NYT reports that according to prosecutors, Dreier, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, sold $700 million worth of phony promissory notes to investors.
Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, and prosecutors argued over whether Dreier should be allowed to remain under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment (see it here) until he is sentenced in two months. Although U.S. Judge Jed Rakoff stated that Dreier “has shown that he is to be ranked with those who have committed some of the most egregious frauds in history,” he later ruled that Dreier could remain on bail because he was not likely to flee.
