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DISTRICT ATTORNEY - NEW YORK COUNTY |
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NEWS RELEASE |
Contact:
Alicia Maxey Greene |
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Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment and arrest of the former Chief Operating Officer of 3V Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund management company, for stealing $250,000 from one of the funds he managed, and for creating forged documents to accomplish and cover up the theft. The defendant, MARK A. FOCHT, 32, was indicted on charges of grand larceny, forgery, and falsifying business records. The larceny alleged in the indictment took place on April 30, 2007, and the false documents were used to steal the money on that date, and later in an effort to cover up the crime on February 28, 2008. The investigation leading to today’s indictment and arrest revealed that FOCHT stole $250,000 by using a forged authorization form to wire $250,000 out of a bank account of Pierce Diversified Strategy Master Fund, LLC, one of the funds managed by 3V Capital Management. FOCHT used the stolen money to make a personal investment to benefit himself. To conceal the missing $250,000, FOCHT created forged documents that falsely represented to both FOCHT’s employer and to the client hedge fund that the $250,000 had been invested on behalf of the hedge fund. In fact, the $250,000 was invested by FOCHT for his own purposes, in violation of the legal, fiduciary and ethical obligations he owed his clients. FOCHT has been indicted on one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison; one count each of Forgery in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First Degree, each also a class C felony; two counts each of Forgery in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, each a class D felony, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison; and on two counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, which is punishable by up to 4 years in prison. FOCHT is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in State Supreme Court, Part 1. The investigation is continuing. Assistant District Attorneys Marc Frazier Scholl (Senior Investigative Counsel) and Jessica Lynn led the investigation, assisted by Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Lenzner and supervised by Assistant District Attorneys Adam Kaufmann and Gary Fishman, Bureau Chief and Deputy Bureau Chief of Investigations Division Central, respectively. Trial Preparation Assistants Barbara Bruce and Sean Tyrer assisted in the investigation and grand jury presentation. The investigation was conducted by Senior Investigator Patrick McKenna of the District Attorney’s Investigation Bureau, under the supervision of Team Leader Steve Akselrod, Chief Investigator Joseph Pennisi and Assistant Chief Terence Mulderrig. Defendant Information:
MARK A. FOCHT, 11/19/1976 ###
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