Bloomberg News
Friday, November 21, 2008

NEW YORK, Nov. 20 -- Financier and arts philanthropist Alberto Vilar and his business partner Gary Tanaka were found guilty Wednesday of a scheme to steal $20 million from clients of Amerindo Investment Advisors, which made and then lost billions of dollars for investors in tech stocks.

Prosecutors said Vilar, 67, and Tanaka, 65, stole the money to keep New York-based Amerindo afloat and to pay Vilar's personal expenses after the firm's investments plunged in value beginning in 2000. A Manhattan federal jury yesterday convicted Vilar on all 12 counts, including conspiracy and securities fraud, and Tanaka on three counts. The men, who co-founded Amerindo, face as much as 20 years in prison on the most serious charges.

"We expect to be fully vindicated on appeal," Herald Price Fahringer, Vilar's lawyer, said after the verdict.

Before his arrest in May 2005, Vilar was one of the world's top benefactors of opera, donating millions to U.S. and European companies in addition to gifts to hospitals and educational institutions. He failed to deliver on many of his charitable pledges, even as he announced new philanthropic plans.

The Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Washington National Opera and Denver's National Jewish Health are among institutions that said Vilar didn't make good on all of his pledges.

No sentencing date was set.