NRI Amit Mathur jailed 10 years for bilking 15 investors of $12.5 million.

 

Boston, MA, May 13m 2009
Kulbir Singh

NRI Amit Mathur, 38, investment adviser, Shrewsbury, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for swindling clients for over $12 million. He was convicted of 20 counts of mail, wire fraud and stealing or misappropriating funds from clients. After two-week trial, federal prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of 17-1/2 years

Amit's attorney Vivian Shevitz asked that her client be sentenced to the one year he has already served in a federal detention facility. Amit Mathur’s motion for a new trial and sentenced was rejected by a federal judge.

According to the indictment:

• Mathur stole the materials copying Entrust Northeast's website and convince investors about the pedigree of his firm
• He thought he was going to close down his little hedge fund company by showing large trading losses and legitimate losses.
• He made money with losing trades and 90% of the commission owed to the brokerage doing the trades were kickbacked to Mathur.
• He convinced his investors by fake statements of return in his books.
• He stole some investors's money and invested in real estate
• Mathur's own uncle, Alok Mathur also lost about $530,000.
• David G. "Duddie" Massad a banker invested $13 million from five investment clients and lost over $11 million

Amit is the only child of older parents. Mathur’s mother, Dr. Usha Mathur was allowed to speak by judge. She
urged the judge to consider her and her husband in making his sentence. We are both old. He’s our only child. We are lost without him.

Judge Saylor said:

• He arrived at a sentence four years shorter than the guideline range of 14 to 17-1/2 years.
• In addition to the 10-year sentence, Mr. Mathur will have to serve three years of probation after he is released.
• He agreed to recommend that he be locked up as close to Worcester as possible for the sake of his parents.

Judge Saylor said, "I cannot imagine how cold and callous you could be to deprive a family member of every penny they spent their entire lives earning."

NRI CONVICTED IN $13 MILLION INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME

Boston, MA
The United States Attorney's Office
May 20, 2008
Kulbir Singh reports

SHREWSBURY MAN CONVICTED IN $13 MILLION INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME

. A Shrewsbury investment adviser was convicted of 20 counts of fraud in Federal District Court in Worcester on Friday, May 16, 2008 in connection with a scheme that bilked 15 investors of approximately $13 million.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that AMIT MATHUR, age 38, of 3 Sunflower Circle, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, was convicted of 18 counts of mail and two counts of wire fraud.

According to the evidence presented at trial, MATHUR held himself out as a fantastically successful investment adviser operating a firm in Worcester known as Entrust Capital Management, Inc. (“Entrust”). During that period, MATHUR received approximately $16 million from investors. According to evidence presented at trial, MATHUR told investors -- in person and in marketing literature -- that Entrust was operating a hedge fund that consistently achieved positive rates of return and did better than the general stock market indices. In this way, MATHUR lulled his investors into a false sense of security to persuade them to invest money and to leave their money with Entrust for the long term. In fact, during its entire existence, according to the evidence introduced at trial, the Entrust fund suffered consistent losses. Moreover, in several instances, MATHUR never even invested the money investors gave him. Instead, he misappropriated more than $5 million of investors' money for his own personal use, including luxury items such as several cars, gambling, New England Patriots football season tickets, jewelry, and clothing.

On each count for which he was convicted, MATHUR faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and restitution to the victims.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also wishes to acknowledge the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Boston in providing cooperation during the investigation of this case. The prosecution was being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Capin in Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit.