A high-tech con man was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for defrauding Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and dozens of other investors of more than $30 million and causing the collapse of a non-profit foundation, the Associated Press reports from San Francisco.
The con man faces fines up to $60 million at a hearing to be held Thursday.
In pronouncing sentence, one of the harshest ever meted out to a white-collar criminal, a U.S. District Court Judge called him a congenital liar and serial fraudster.
He was indicted in August 2010 in Los Angeles and convicted in San Francisco last November of falsely telling investors that Microsoft was about to acquire his San Francisco-based firm, Ecast, which he said provided digital music, games, entertainment and information to bars and clubs. The scheme began in 2002 and lasted through 2008.
The con man is the son of Russian immigrants who was raised in Jerusalem, moved to the USA in 1987 and became a U.S. citizen. He falsely told his victims that President George H.W. Bush personally granted him citizenship, prosecutors said.
He rented a mansion in the exclusive Marin County enclave of Belvedere, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge overlooking San Francisco Bay, and hung copies of famous paintings from such artists as Picasso, Miro and Matisse. As part of his ruse, he told investors that he owned the house and that the artworks were originals.
He used the millions to fund what prosecutors called an absurd lifestyle, including publishing The Kosher Billionaire's Secret Recipe, a cookbook by his wife.
His website boasts of Redefining Entrepreneurial Innovation. He calls himself an entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor.
The fraud caused the collapse of Vanguard Public Foundation, which worked to eradicate racism in all its manifestations, and promote gender equality, economic and environmental justice, community empowerment, and equal rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community.
A boutique investigative firm that followed the case pointed out red flags that should have been seen.
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