Wall St. 'Bad Boy' To Judge: 'I'm Begging You. I'm Pleading With You'

A former investment manager known as Wall Street's "bad boy" was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison, according to a report in HuffPo.  Ross Mandell was sentenced by Judge Paul Crotty for his conviction at trial last summer on conspiracy and securities fraud charges. The government said he defrauded U.S. and European investors of $140 million and asked that he be sent away for life.

"I'm not asking you for leniency today Judge Crotty, I'm begging you. I'm pleading with you," the former chief executive officer of Sky Capital said before the judge announced his sentence. Mandell was also ordered to forfeit $50 million. He must report to prison June 18.

The trial captured the hard-partying lifestyle brokers enjoyed during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Prosecutors say Mandell treated his brokers to fast times in London, spending $1.3 million at the nicest hotels in Europe and bringing plenty of petty cash for strip clubs and prostitutes.  An exhibit introduced at trial by prosecutors showed that Mandell charged $162,000 on credit cards at adult entertainment clubs in London and New York from May 2001 through January 2006.

Prosecutors portrayed Mandell and a co-defendant who awaits sentencing as con men, saying they capitalized on the excitement over Internet tech stocks by using their broker-dealer operation to solicit private investments in startups. Prosecutors said the defendants spent some of investor money living lavishly with private jets, expensive vacations, fancy cars and flashy watches. They said the men manipulated the value of stocks they sold to investors in part by paying brokers 400 percent commissions to promote the stocks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/ross-mandell-wall-street-bad-boy_n_1477434.html?ref=business