Investment Adviser Is Convicted of Fraud

Here's another candidate to scratch off your short list of potential money managers: Amit Mathur.

The 38-year-old Massachusetts man was convicted in mid-May on 20 counts of fraud in connection with an investment scheme that squeezed roughly $13 million out of 15 investors.

According to the Department of Justice, Mathur portrayed himself as a "fantastically successful investment adviser" at Entrust Capital Management. By telling investors that a hedge fund run by the firm regularly bested stock market indexes, he was given some $16 million by them to invest, the Justice Department said.

From the DOJ press release:

In fact, during its entire existence, according to the evidence introduced at trial, the Entrust fund suffered consistent losses. Moreover, in several instances, MATHUR never even invested the money investors gave him. Instead, he misappropriated more than $5 million of investors' money for his own personal use, including luxury items such as several cars, gambling, New England Patriots football season tickets, jewelry, and clothing.

It should be comforting to his victims, then, that it may be a long time before Mathur sees his next Tom Brady touchdown pass. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count for which he was convicted.