The federal government has committed itself to destroying once-favored Democratic political donor Philip Falcone, turning its back on a man whose investment efforts were aided by the Obama administration’s use of political and regulatory muscle.
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Falcone — who made billions betting against subprime mortgages during the housing crisis — and his investment firm, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, had “fraudulently obtained $113.2 million from a hedge fund that he advised and misappropriated the proceeds to pay his personal taxes.”
Falcone’s attorney says the charges are unsupported, but the billionaire hedge-fund manager and backer of the now bankrupt broadband company LightSquared, owed that same amount in federal and state taxes in 2009, according to the agency’s filing, by which he took a loan from his firm to repay the debt.
Not only did Falcone use hedge fund money to pay his taxes, said the SEC filing, but he gave preferential treatment to “certain strategically-important investors” in order to gain an advantage over his competitors.
The agency is seeking “a variety of sanctions and relief,” including “injunctions against Falcone and Harbinger from violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Exchange Act and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.”
Perhaps the most severe penalty the SEC is seeking — aside from a monetary penalty through the “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest and civil money penalties from Falcone and Harbinger — is that it “seeks to prohibit Falcone from serving as an officer and director of any public company.”
Falcone’s attorney, Matthew Dontzin of The Dontzin Law Firm, said in a statement to The Daily Caller, “This has to be the first case involving an act of supposed dishonesty in which a client simply followed the advice of his lawyer.”
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Falcone — who made billions betting against subprime mortgages during the housing crisis — and his investment firm, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, had “fraudulently obtained $113.2 million from a hedge fund that he advised and misappropriated the proceeds to pay his personal taxes.”
Falcone’s attorney says the charges are unsupported, but the billionaire hedge-fund manager and backer of the now bankrupt broadband company LightSquared, owed that same amount in federal and state taxes in 2009, according to the agency’s filing, by which he took a loan from his firm to repay the debt.
Not only did Falcone use hedge fund money to pay his taxes, said the SEC filing, but he gave preferential treatment to “certain strategically-important investors” in order to gain an advantage over his competitors.
The agency is seeking “a variety of sanctions and relief,” including “injunctions against Falcone and Harbinger from violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Exchange Act and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.”
Perhaps the most severe penalty the SEC is seeking — aside from a monetary penalty through the “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest and civil money penalties from Falcone and Harbinger — is that it “seeks to prohibit Falcone from serving as an officer and director of any public company.”
Falcone’s attorney, Matthew Dontzin of The Dontzin Law Firm, said in a statement to The Daily Caller, “This has to be the first case involving an act of supposed dishonesty in which a client simply followed the advice of his lawyer.”
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