Former Och-Ziff Executive Michael Cohen Charged in Charity Fraud Scheme
The former head of the hedge fund's European office allegedly induced an unnamed charity to invest in a fund without disclosing conflicts and self-dealing.
January 03, 2018 at 02:37 PM
4 minute read
Former Och-Ziff Capital Management Group executive Michael Cohen faced more fallout over allegations related to his time overseeing investments in Africa and elsewhere.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an October indictment against Cohen Wednesday. Cohen was charged for allegedly inducing a U.K.-based charitable organization to invest in a fund focused on the African mining sector, which included the company Strata Ltd., without disclosing his conflicts of interest and self-dealings as part of the fraudulent scheme.
“As alleged, Michael Cohen violated his fiduciary duties as an investment adviser, deceiving a charitable foundation, in order to enrich himself and his associates,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement. “The deceit continued when he learned that the U.S. government was investigating his activities, was confronted with evidence of the alleged crimes and responded with a cover-up. The charges announced today reflect this office's commitment, together with our law enforcement partners, to hold accountable those in the finance industry who defraud investors.”
This is the latest legal trouble for Cohen, who was charged a year ago, along with a co-defendant from Och-Ziff, with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with being “the driving force” behind an alleged “far-reaching” bribery scheme in Africa. That case is proceeding in the Eastern District before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. That case is captioned SEC v. Cohen, 17-cv-00430.
The latest charges against Cohen—a 10-count indictment that includes investment adviser fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obstruction of justice—are connected to the same alleged underlying actions as the SEC's suit.
According to the indictment, Cohen's inducement of the charitable organization was meant, in part, to help him recoup millions of dollars owed him by an unnamed co-conspirator. The co-conspirator allegedly was lent $18 million by Cohen to buy a yacht in 2010, and planned to use the proceeds of the sale of Strata shares to repay $4 million to Cohen.
Another co-conspirator's identity, who exercised a management role in the fund conducting the Strata sale, was hidden from the charitable organization by Cohen, according to the indictment. Cohen allegedly used the first co-conspirator as a conduit to sell the shares, as he knew the organization would not approve of the sale if it knew the identity of the seller.
These and other conflicts were never disclosed to the charitable organization, which, in December 2010, executed a consent form to purchase the Strata shares for nearly $10 million.
After the SEC opened an unrelated investigation into New York-based Och-Ziff over potential bribery that targeted the first co-conspirator in 2011, Cohen allegedly attempted to manufacture a letter with a backdate to make it appear as if he was not to be paid back any of the yacht loan with Strata stock sale proceeds.
When Cohen himself was subpoenaed in 2012 by the SEC, he delivered the allegedly falsified letter to regulators, later telling them, along with prosecutors with the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office during a 2013 meeting, that the letter was legitimate and not backdated.
Morrison & Foerster partner Ronald White represents Cohen in both the previous SEC case, as well as the latest allegations by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In a statement, White stated that his client ”has done nothing wrong” and is “confident that when all the evidence is presented, it will be shown that the government's charges are baseless.”
The case is captioned U.S. v. Cohen, 17-cr-00544.
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