You Say ‘Terrible Error In Judgment,’ Prosecutors Say ‘Ripped Off Investors For More Than A Decade’

Here is one way to describe what International Investment Group’s David Hu did alongside his partner at the trade finance specialist, Martin Silver.

[H]e “worked tirelessly throughout his life to build a life befitting the American dream, but made a terrible error in judgment and continued to double down on that mistake.”

Did he ever, because here’s another way of putting it:

“Day in and day out, throughout the course of more than a decade, the defendant abandoned his fiduciary responsibilities as an investment adviser and defrauded IIG funds and investors, causing more than a hundred million dollars in losses to those funds and investors,” prosecutors said in a memo ahead of sentencing.

For those iterative errors in judgment, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein—who, as far as we know, shares no mutual friends with Hu—decided to impose a bit of poetic justice: Twelve years in prison for 12 years of fraud.

“These kind of crimes are their own set of evil, taking money away from people who have saved it as a way to ease their later years,” the judge said.

Which is, perhaps, why Hellerstein was not particularly interested in easing the later years of the 64-year-old Hu.

[Hu’s lawyers] stressed that his age and health issues meant a lengthy term could become a de facto life sentence.

Don’t worry, Dave: As Raj Rajaratnam can tell you, a spell in the pokey might be just the cure for your particular unique constellation of ailments.

Investment Chief Gets 12 Years for Running $100 Million Scam [Bloomberg]

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