Money Manager Accused of Duping Investors with Feigned Law Firm Ties

A hedge fund manager arrested yesterday in Hong Kong is accused of touting law firm connections to impress investors he duped out of millions of dollars.

Albert Hu has been charged with wire fraud and securities violations by federal prosecutors in San Jose, Calif., and by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Recorder reports. Authorities claim Hu told investors or made claims in documents that his hedge funds were represented by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (which became part of K&L Gates), Proskauer Rose and “Heller Ehrman Rose."

None of the firms had anything to do with Hu’s scheme, authorities said, although they may have provided unrelated advice.

"There would be representations that these law firms were providing legal counsel to the hedge funds," SEC staff lawyer Elena Ro told the Recorder. "Those were just a web of lies used to get access to the money."