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NY lawyer gets 20 years for fund fraud

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-14 15:17

NEW YORK: A New York lawyer was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for financial fraud, following arch swindler Bernard Madoff's imprisonment of 150 years last month.

Related readings:  US mortgage fraud 'rampant' and growing: FBI  Madoff gets harshest sentence for fraud  Madoff pleads guilty, jailed for $65b fraud  FBI hands Allen Stanford fraud charges in Virginia  Panic follows fraud charges against US billionaire

Marc Dreier, a lawyer in Manhattan, admitted he had stole more than 46 million dollars from hedge funds by selling them fake promissory notes.

Dreier's lawyers asked the court to sentence him only 10 years in prison, however, Dreier was assumed to be sentenced to as long as 145 years in jail. His judge Jed Rakoff sentenced him 20 years in prison, which was obviously much shorter than expected.

Dreier, 59, graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School, and then became a lawyer in Manhattan. On May 11, 2009, he pledged guilty to eight charges including money laundering, securities fraud and wire fraud.

Dreier reportedly spent a huge amount of money to maintain his luxury lifestyle. He had an ocean view luxury apartment on the Upper East Side New York. He also has several expensive cars and a 18-million-dollar yacht. His office had a large number of art collections including Picasso and Warhol's works. The estimate value of his collections was US$40 million.