Investment Manager Arrested On Fraud And Misappropriation Charges In Swindle

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/investment-manager-arrested-fraud-and-misappropriation-charges-alleged-multi-million

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 19, 2017

Investment Manager Arrested On Fraud And Misappropriation Charges In Alleged Multi-Million Dollar Swindle

CHICAGO — A Connecticut investment manager has been arrested for allegedly operating a multi-million dollar fraud scheme that swindled approximately 30 individuals, including victims who reside in the Chicago area. ALVIN WILKINSON, the founder of Chicago Index Partners LP and Wilkinson Financial Opportunity Fund LP, both based in Sharon, Conn., persuaded approximately 30 individuals to invest approximately $13 million in his funds, according to an indictment returned in federal court in Chicago. Wilkinson’s marketing materials to potential investors noted his prior affiliation with the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where he previously served as a Director. Instead of investing the funds as promised to clients, Wilkinson used the victims’ money to cover personal expenses and to pay earlier investors through Ponzi-type payments, the indictment states.
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According to the indictment, Wilkinson was the sole officer of his funds and had exclusive authority to manage their operations. Investors in the funds included Wilkinson’s friends, acquaintances and former colleagues. Wilkinson claimed he would trade a portfolio of financial instruments on their behalf, including options and futures, and that his trading strategy made money regardless of market conditions. In reality, Wilkinson did not maintain any trading accounts for the funds, and he did not use investor funds to trade in options and futures, according to the indictment.

The fraud scheme alleged in the indictment began no later than 1999 and continued until at least May 2016.
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