Former hedge fund manager pleads guilty to wire fraud
By Jeff Ostrowski – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PALM BEACH — Paul Pomfret, a former hedge fund manager who played tight end for Penn State’s national championship football team in 1986, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors last year accused Pomfret of defrauding a South Carolina businessman of $500,000. The unnamed victim met Pomfret in the Cayman Islands in 2010 and agreed to invest in Pomfret’s hedge fund, PDP Capital Investments of Palm Beach, prosecutors said.
Pomfret, 49, issued a phony statement showing profits in the victim’s account. In fact, prosecutors said, Pomfret never invested the money but spent it himself.
Pomfret in November pleaded not guilty, but last week he changed his plea to guilty. Pomfret is scheduled to be sentenced in September in federal court in South Carolina.
Before Pomfret shut down his hedge fund in 2011, he was accused of fraud by other investors. In a suit filed in 2004, Palm Beach resident John Atkinson said Pomfret took $2.8 million of his money and, instead of investing it, spent the cash.
When Pomfret filed this month for personal bankruptcy protection, he listed a $3.5 million judgment won by Atkinson among his $12.3 million in liabilities. Pomfret’s only asset is his Reef Road home, valued at $1.3 million.
Pomfret said he has three mortgages totaling $3.2 million on the property. Pomfret also owes $246,186 to Palm Beach accountant Richard Rampell and $200,000 in legal fees to Page Mrachek Fitzgerald & Rose of West Palm Beach.
As he marketed his hedge fund, the 6-foot-4 Pomfret was sure to mention his playing days for the Nittany Lions in the 1980s. He was the team’s starting tight end in 1987 and caught a touchdown pass against Maryland.
For more on this story go to:
