I don't know why these feel just like stabs from a knife when I read certain things associated with Phoebe. It hurts deeply but yet I want to know why. It is important to know why this hurts me. The pain must mean something.
Among other reasons, it might be because I am not there to look out for them. That causes me a great deal of grief to know I am not there to look out for them, among all the other complex reasons, associated with these people I have a great deal of emotions invested into.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a8HGo0NM9JKM
Vilar Robbed Investors as He Pledged Donations, Prosecutors Say
By Bob Van Voris
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Alberto Vilar left the federal courthouse in Manhattan on a sunny morning in June and walked slowly toward Foley Square, alone except for a handful of news photographers, a gray business suit hanging loosely from his shrunken frame. Vilar, 64, co-founder of New York-based Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. and a well-known arts philanthropist in the city, was accused of stealing $5 million from Lily Cates, a friend and longtime client.
It was a familiar scene: an icon of the late-1990s stock boom facing criminal charges, surrounded by a scrum of press. Former Tyco International Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Kozlowski, former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers and Credit Suisse First Boston Managing Director Frank Quattrone were all tried and convicted in the courthouses around Foley Square, the center of New York's legal world.
Vilar's case stands out from those others. Freed from the nearby Metropolitan Correctional Center just two days earlier, Vilar walked out into the world without the usual protective throng of family, friends and lawyers. Instead of a black sport utility vehicle or luxury sedan with tinted windows and a driver, Vilar stepped into a yellow cab for the $10.50 ride to his 20- room, two-story luxury apartment near the United Nations.
Vilar, who prosecutors said had once amassed a $950 million fortune, was released to home confinement after sitting in jail for 3 1/2 weeks, unable to put together just $4 million to secure his bail. His lawyer, Susan Necheles, was trying to withdraw from the case, citing conflicts with her client and her concern that she wouldn't be paid.
Business Creditors
Vilar faced a suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the claims of former friends and investors who say he stole their money, and court judgments won by business creditors and former employees.
Many of the opera companies and other charities to which Vilar had pledged more than $200 million faced the reality that he wouldn't pay them anytime soon, if ever.
As early as next year, a jury may consider whether Vilar and his partner, Gary Tanaka, 62, stole the $5 million from Cates, as prosecutors claim. What is clear is that in 2002, when they allege the crime took place, Vilar was in a desperate spot, personally and financially.
By mid-2002, Vilar and Amerindo were out of cash as a result of a steep drop in the value of their holdings in technology stocks. Vilar complained of back and leg pain that he said kept him out of the office for months at a time.
Mentally Incapacitated
The drugs he was taking for the pain, he later claimed, left him mentally incapacitated. ``I was fighting for my financial survival,'' Vilar testified in a 2003 deposition.
Whether or not the events of 2002 drove Vilar to crime, they put him and his firm in a hole too deep to climb out of.
And they provide a cautionary tale for investors and regulators who didn't see the signs until too late.
Vilar and Tanaka are charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Additional charges are possible.
``We fear that they are just the tip of the iceberg,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney David Esseks said of the charges on May 27, the day after Vilar and Tanaka were arrested. They face as many as 10 years in prison if convicted.
Vilar and Tanaka have pleaded not guilty. Both men declined to be interviewed. Lily Cates, who is the mother of actress Phoebe Cates, did not respond to phone messages left at her home and with her lawyer.
Last Updated: October 6, 2005 00:01 EDT
