Wanted: Hedge Fund President For $13.7 Million Swindle

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it is looking for O’Neill who has been charged with 40 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with misappropriations at his three hedge fund companies:   Frecom, Momentum and Orca.   If convicted, O’Neill faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the counts and millions of dollars in fines, according to an Associated Press report.

The charges stem from accusations that O’Neill spent about $10 million of investors’ money on himself, including buying private chartered planes, a house for himself, luxury homes for his wife and mother-in-law, high end cars and gambling trips and misappropriated another $2.7 million to pay for Orca Fund business expenses, including salaries and rent for office space .   Additionally, a complaint before the US Commodity Futures Commission claims O’Neill used investors’ money to cover an $800,000 gambling loss.

In fact, O’Neill invested very little of the actual money given to him and only a handful of investors who opted to receive their profits on a monthly basis saw any of their money back at all – about $700,000, according to reports.