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Dreier Indictment Reveals His Fondness for Salma Hayek
The American Lawyer
January 30, 2009
Marc Dreier
Image: Courtesy Photo
The shocking allegations against Marc Dreier came out of the bag last month, so there's not much new to report from the grand jury indictment against him that was unsealed on Thursday (available here [PDF]). There are a few noteworthy details, though.
First, Dreier's alleged scam to sell bogus securities to investment fund clients apparently dates to 2004, not 2006. Second, he allegedly stole an undetermined amount of client money by swiping it from escrow accounts. The total amount Dreier allegedly stole is now over $400 million.
As we've reported before, Dreier, the sole equity partner in Dreier LLP, offered several hedge funds in New York and Connecticut the chance to buy interest-bearing promissory notes he claimed came from Solow Reality, a former Dreier client.
Of course, Dreier allegedly forged the notes, created statements from accounting companies vouching for the notes, and even had an accomplice impersonate Solow or accounting firm executives when buyers got suspicious.
The indictment says Dreier claimed the notes carried interest rates between 8 and 12 percent. He also set up fake phone lines and e-mail accounts (and purchased several cell phones) so the funds could contact his accomplices without realizing they were contacting Dreier or Dreier LLP.
In Canada, we've known for some time that, as his scheme unraveled, Dreier impersonated a lawyer for the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in a meeting with the Fortress Investment Group, a private equity fund. The indictment unsealed Thursday says Dreier claimed the notes were backed by an unnamed Canadian company. In other schemes, Dreier told investors that unnamed company was issuing the notes and that the pension group was backing them.
One final note: We've reported many times that Dreier's personal asset list is filled with classic works of art by artists such as Mark Rothko, Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol. He does have one very recent piece, though -- a 2006 high-definition video the noted New York photographer Robert Wilson took of actress Salma Hayek.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
