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Twitter "Hedge Fund Manager" Anthony Davian Sentenced To 4 Years 9 Months In Federal Prison
Over a year ago we reported that one of Twitter early and most aggressive self-promoters, Anthony Davian, was busted for what was at the time financial Twitters' the first Ponzi Scheme. In our words then:
Once upon a time there was a Twitter-based, pump-and-dumping daytrading bucket shop posing as a "successful hedge fund manager" also known as Davian Letter/Davian Capital Advisors run by an Ohio gentleman known as Anthony Davian, which for reasons unknown even managed to run outside capital (somehow raking up to $1.5 million in idiot AUM, mostly courtesy of his very aggressive self promotion on Twitter using the @hedgieguy handle), and which didn't like Zero Hedge much.
(but that's ok because the feeling was mutual - we had advised the SEC in late 2009 that the Davian operation was nothing but a ponzi scheme).
A few years later, said outside capital is gone (with losses that could have been prevented had the SEC moved earlier) and moments ago, following a four year delay since our notice, the SEC has finally acted and charged Anthony Davian with fraud.
Today, we can close the case on Athony Davian.
As SIRF reports, "Anthony Davian, a once-prolific presence on social media who held himself out as a iconoclastic hedge fund manager prior to his August 2013 indictment on a series of fraud charges, was sentenced several hours ago in a Cleveland courtroom to four years and nine months in federal prison."
The details of the sentencing courtesy of SIRF's Roddy Boyd:
Anthony Davian, a once-prolific presence on social media who held himself out as a iconoclastic hedge fund manager prior to his August 2013 indictment on a series of fraud charges, was sentenced several hours ago in a Cleveland courtroom to four years and nine months in federal prison.
Federal Judge Patricia Gaughan of Ohio's Northern District court also ordered Davian to make restitution of approximately $1.8 million to his defrauded investors and serve three years of probation after his release. Should Davian waive his right to appeal, he is slated to report to prison in late December or early January, pending his recovery from a recent foot surgery.
According to a pre-sentencing guideline federal prosecutors filed on November 18th, they sought a 60 month sentence (and full restitution) for Davian based on an investigation they claimed showed Davian had never sought to manage money, but only to raise investor capital to fund personal and business expenses, including paying off an office lease and attorney fees.
A once forceful presence on what is now known broadly as "Finance Twitter," Davian's signature remark was "Ching!" (after a trade he had been discussing allegedly turned profitable for his portfolio,) he was the subject of a July 2013 Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation investigation that raised doubts about his performance and whether he was even managing the several hundred million dollars he then publicly claimed.
In the weeks after SIRF's report was released, lawyers from the Security and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice filed claims in federal court to shut Davian's portfolios down and seize assets. Apart from an expensive Audi and a Bath, Ohio property where Davian sought to build a mansion, there was apparently little for government lawyers to seize.
In the courtroom, according to notes given to SIRF by someone present in the courtroom who asked not to be identified because he sought "to put this behind me," Davian's wife and mother made statements that sought mercy from Judge Gaughan before the sentence was entered. His mother discussed what she argued was Davian's long history of mental illness; his wife said that all of their children had substantive medical issues that were "drowning them in medical expenses."
And now we look forward to which self-acclaimed "successful hedge-fund manager" on Twitter will take his place.
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Don't bend over for the soap...
Social media... where the LCD can be everything the bigger crooks appear to be.
Tell him to say hi to Jon Corzine when he sees him in prison.
Oh wait....
When are the Ponzi schemers at the Federal Reserve going to jail?
When are the Ponzi schemers at the bullion banks who rigged the gold price and and therefore interest rates going to jail?
When are the Ponzi schemers at the BofE and the BIS who coordinated gold prce and interest rate rigging going to jail?
When are the Ponzi schemers at the LBMA going to jail?
If only he had scale, then he wouldn't be going to jail.
Another case of Not Too Big To Jail
Check out this asshole Anthony Klatch. He stole way more and did less than 2 years in prison. Fucker tried soliciting me to give him client assets. Told everyone he was running a ponzi. A few years later.... ding ding ding. We have a winner. Now he labels himself as a successul ex-hedge fund manager on his linked-in. Bastard had the audacity to try and reach out to me to support him on Linked-in.... my response... um NO you POS.
Tell him to come to Australia, he would be welcome here. No, seriously. What is described in this article would not be considered crimes in Australia. The regulator has literally legalized pump-and-dump schemes.
www.drbenway.blogspot.com/ncr
I see reality TV in your future Tony....Ching!!
wonder if he'll tweet
from the slammer..
Wake me when Corzine becomes his cellmate.
Must have forgot to pay off the boss (DOJ)
Sorry, members only - the doorman sharply exclaimed as he blocked the way.
Then reality turned around and bit him in the ass...
Law enforcement organizations love these criminals. They wait for the crooks to amass a fortune they could then legally repossess and deal with at their own discretion. This time, it looks like they waited too long and missed the jackpot (or maybe they didn't - not like they'd tell anyone).
Ponzies are rarely interrupted on the way up. Only when funds peak, commissioners step in to try and scoop it all up.
good job ZH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8csSvWqr8
If your SEC and CSA social media training is too tough to remember, just remember: how many times do you see a tweet from David Einhorn or Buffett. For everything else or questions of your book / views on Twitter, see the above link.
Assume everything will be saved & retweeted; so if its something you want to send to personal friends/family/people, use angeldust or another total-delete program. Keep a log for compliance. Never talk your book.
Also, never tweet TD. TD does not exist, he's a myth. He's just the voice every PM & CIO wishes he could use to scream into the squawkbox. This site is likely run out of the P&G Soap (buyback) department. :P
Does the resolution of this case finally free up resources in the hunt for Corzine?
An American, not US subject.
You mean Chris Christie's former lobbyist and PR man?
That Corzine?
Who?
The Who.
And how is this different than what Kerrsidale has been doing?
They published a thick research piece saying JGW had 70% upside last February and it instead tanked
And then they went Jihad on GSAT and twitter spam it on every uptick as they are short and probably trade around the scares they manufacture
"A few years later, said outside capital is gone (with losses that could have been prevented had the SEC moved earlier) and moments ago, following a four year delay since our notice, the SEC has finally acted and charged Anthony Davian with fraud."...
Maybe Jamie and Lloyd admired him for his chutzpah and told the SEC to back off a little longer?...
The pen will give him plenty of time to work on his resume and if Jamie and Lloyd are the role model that we know they are he'll be out in a year on good behavior working at JPM!
Can someone explain the difference between this guy and muppet-slayer to the stars, Jim Cramer?
Silly. Jim has his own TV Show.
Good
He scammed a bunch of people for all that money, the lawyers scammed him for all that money, and the taxpayers get scammed for his living expenses for 4 years. Justice has been picked clean!
His signature remark now is "Clink!" as the cell door locks behind him
Only the chosen can run ponzi schemes in America.
Small time financial criminals don't stand a chance. Someone's gotta get policed and it ain't gonna be the big sharks.
His investors got Corzined, but he got Madoffed.
Poor Trav.
So why aren't the Banksters, 1% ers and McMansion dwellers out looting and burning their respective neighborhoods and city centers.......?
the scammer has 4 years and 9 months to make someone a good wife
Listen.
I wonder what he would say about The Hedge today?
A buy or sell? And don't give me that neutral bullshit!
What a douche
– On one of said social media accounts, he had a habit of posting "Ching!" every time he made money on a trade.
– He made YouTube videos under the heading "Financial Rockstar.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/07/this-the-worst-ponzi-scheme...
.
So some nobody on twitter pump dumping goes to jail.
But banks that do this shit on a daily basis with algos ... nothing?
He didn't steal anywhere near enough so he goes to the klink.
Why even mention this little twerp in the same sentence as major league untouchables like Corzine?
Competition among crooks shall not be tolerated. To the hooscal M'Fer
So when do Blankfein and Dimon get theirs. This guy is a small fish and easy to fry.
this case is not closed. He will do short time then as a financial criminal reappear with a new name. The punishment never fits the financial crime.
Now that the SEC has cracked down hard on fraud in the financial center that is Ohio, I'd be right to assume New York is next?