It’s a charity case
Och-Ziff exec ‘dupes’ do-gooders
A former hedge fund executive lied to a UK charity so an associate could repay part of an $18 million loan owed to the tainted hedgie, according to a 10count indictment unsealed Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court.
Michael Cohen, 46, formerly of Och-Ziff Capital Management, duped the charity into buying stock in a mining company — without telling it $4 million was going to a man who had borrowed $18 million to buy a yacht, court papers charge.
The man had fallen behind in repaying the loan — so Cohen instructed the charity to buy the shares without telling it the cash was going to end up in his pocket, prosecutors allege.
Cohen, who was slapped with civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission a year ago, was charged in Brooklyn with investment adviser fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
The grand jury charged Cohen in October, but the indictment was made pub- lic on Wednesday.
Cohen, who lives in London, loaned the money to an unidentified co-conspirator in December 2008, according to the indictment.
The 2017 SEC case, still being litigated, said the co- conspirator is a London businessman with ties to the late Moammar Khadafy’s family.
“As alleged, Michael Cohen violated his fiduciary duties as an investment advisor, deceiving a charitable foundation, in order to enrich himself and his associates,” Acting US Attorney Bridget Rohde said in statement.
Cohen complicated his alleged scam by asking his co-conspirator to create a back-dated letter that said the proceeds of the stock sale would not be used to pay the loan — leading to the obstruction of justice charge.
“Mr. Cohen has done nothing wrong and is confident that when all the evidence is presented, it will be shown that the government’s charges are baseless,” Cohen’s lawyer, Ron White, told The Post.