|
 Appearing in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, Arun Ganguly, 37,
was accused of being a con artist who impersonated Winklevoss, his
father, Howard Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, another so-called
founder of the social network, in hundreds of emails. He also
allegedly sent forged documents.
Defense attorney Vinoo Varghese, who represented Ganguly in court,
described him as an investment advisor from the San Francisco Bay
area.
Ganguly is pleading not guilty and "looks forward to clearing his
name," Varghese said.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Steven Statsinger ordered Ganguly
held in lieu of $1 million bond. Aside from scheming to defraud, he
was charged with grand larceny, identity theft and criminal
possession of a forged instrument.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Beth Potashnick described
Ganguly as "a confidence man in a business suit" who pretended to be
the money manager of a non-existent family trust and managing
director of the Ganguly Investment Group, where he supposedly
advised in raising over $100 million to invest in early stage
technology companies.
According to the criminal complaint, Ganguly duped a managing
director of an SEC-registered investment firm into hiring him as a
$5,000 a month financial consultant and advisor in 2012. Prosecutors
identified the managing director as Carl Kleidman, then of Vision
Capital Advisors.
Ganguly claimed the Winklevosses would pay a finder's fee if he
found an overseas buyer for their Facebook Inc shares before the
social network company's initial public offering in 2012,
prosecutors said. He also claimed the Winklevosses would invest up
to $20 million in Kleidman's private equity fund, Fortitude
Partners.
Tyler Winklevoss never met Ganguly and the family never did business
with him, Potashnick said.
[to top of second column]
|
Winklevoss and his twin, Cameron, discovered evidence of a scam six
months ago, brought in an investigative team and went to the
Manhattan District Attorney's office with their findings, according
to a statement from their lawyer, Tyler Meade.
The twins are known for their legal battles with Mark Zuckerberg
over the origins of Facebook, made famous in the 2010 movie, "The
Social Network."
Ganguly has worked for former Chesapeake Energy Corp chief executive
Aubrey McClendon and for Stephen Norris, a co-founder of Carlyle
Group, among other corporate leaders, according to prosecutors.
McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, left after clashes
over spending with the company's board and a series of Reuters
investigations led to civil and criminal probes of the company.
Efforts to reach Kleidman, Norris and McClendon after hours were
unsuccessful.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Stephen Coates)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
