NY Court: Chimay Pleads Guilty in Fraud Scheme
An American who falsely claimed he was both related to European royalty and had $14 million in a Bermuda bank account, appeared in a U.S. court yesterday [Feb 2], and pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the first degree, a scheme to defraud in the first degree, securities fraud and forgery in the second degree.
47 yr old Guy Albert de Chimay was arrested in June 11, 2010 and has been in custody since that time.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] alleged that as late as December 2009, Mr. Chimay sought a multi-million dollar bank loan on the basis of false representations that he had $14 million in liquid assets in a Bermuda bank account, saying he “brazenly falsified bank statements.”
The SEC said his Bermuda account balance was actually zero, and that Mr Chimay also solicited investments in the region of $6 million, while claiming to be related to the current head of the Belgian Chimay royal family, the Prince de Chimay.
In June 2010, the SEC charged the New York-based money manager and his firm with fraud and obtained an emergency court order to freeze his assets and those of his firm Chimay Capital Management, Inc., alleging that they solicited investments in a vehicle known as the “Bridge Loan Facility” that was to pool investor funds with millions of dollars of Chimay royal family money to make safe and profitable short-term loans to companies.
The SEC said that rather than using investor money to make bridge loans, Mr. Chimay simply stole it, saying he falsified bank statements to hide the fraud while diverting at least $6 million into his personal bank account or otherwise misspending it.
The full legal document is here [13 page PDF]. As it relates specifically to Bermuda, the document said:
In order to facilitate, and then cover-up, the fraud, Chimay brazenly falsified bank statements to lull investors into believing he had tens of millions of dollars at his disposal, most of it purportedly tied up offshore in Bermuda. As recently as December 2009, Defendant Chimay sought a multi-million dollar loan from Wachovia on the basis of false representations that he had $14 million in liquid assets in a Bermuda bank account. In reality, the account balance was zero.
The District Attorney’s office recommended a three- to nine-year prison term for Mr de Chimay when he is sentenced later this month. He is presently being held at Rikers Island prison.
