California fund manager sentenced in fraud scheme

Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Author: The Associated Press

The founder and manager of two Beverly Hills hedge funds has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for cheating investors out of more than $25 million.

Bradley Ruderman was sentenced Monday in a Los Angeles federal courtroom and was ordered to pay $27.5 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty in August to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of investment-adviser fraud and a misdemeanor count of failing to file income taxes in 2007.

Prosecutors say Ruderman, 46, admitted bilking investors, many of them family members, out of millions of dollars by promising annual returns as high as 60 percent and sending fake account statements between 2003 and 2009.

An FBI found Ruderman spent at least $8.7 million of investor money on personal expenses.