Ross Mandell, Wall Street 'Bad Boy,' Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

NEW YORK -- A former investment manager known as Wall Street's "bad boy" was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison.

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.

"It was never my intention to cheat or steal," Mandell said during lengthy remarks to the court. "I've never taken any money from anyone sir."

Sky Capital had offices in London, New York, Florida and New Jersey. His lawyer has promised to appeal.

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.

The scheme came to an end when one of the brokers was caught lying to an FBI undercover officer. The broker agreed to secretly tape-record conversations with Mandell.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Goldstein told jurors in closing arguments that Mandell told his brokers to target foreign investors because they didn't hang up the phone like Americans.

"They are not jaded like we are," Goldstein said Mandell told the brokers. "They are easier to convince. All you have to do is say the name Wall Street."

Mandell, who has homes in Manhattan and Boca Raton, Fla., with his wife and two young daughters, was arrested in 2009. He has said he is a recovering alcoholic, fitness maven and family man who quit the fast lifestyle of the late 1990s and early years of the new century.

He has embraced his "bad boy" image and says he overindulged in fast-lane excesses before getting sober and becoming rich.

An admitted co-conspirator who testified against Mandell at trial said that money raised from investors was spent on "strip clubs and prostitutes."

Comments

[parrotfish]

09:53 PM on 05/06/2012

Ok next, and lets go higher up the chain now to a CEO or two or three.....

[MaxHeadroom]

07:54 PM on 05/06/2012

Cry me a river, "sweet heart".

[edejan]

07:03 PM on 05/06/2012

I'm happy. Keep up the good work DOJ. May he rot in prison.

[SamEasy]

04:38 PM on 05/06/2012

I hope his new boyfriend isn't too rough with him, at least at the start of their relationship.

[Thalin Lea]

02:32 PM on 05/06/2012

12 years is not enough, he must have a huge amount of eggs hiding everywhere , maybe on a bank in Bermuda ,Cayman Island , Barbados , Turks and Caicos ?

[Webstaradvisor]

08:12 AM on 08/07/2012

e h ad half a dozen more companies that supposedly were dissolved and I confronted him on it and showed him the business license records and he didn't say a word and deleted the comment

[MED1025]

11:24 AM on 05/06/2012

"He overindulged in excesses before he got sober and became rich." That's his excuse? What a jerk.

[Neuron Flash]

11:45 PM on 05/05/2012

L.o.s.e.r. Have a fun time in jail, sociopath.

[Veri]

11:15 PM on 05/05/2012

What? Going to jail for what happens on Wall Street? His boss must not have liked him. Or he took money from the wrong, well-connected client.

[builderman55]

09:44 PM on 05/05/2012

Stinking parasites--he might've proven himself worthy of good air had he apologized and taken his sentence with some grace...

[Vapula]

04:34 PM on 05/05/2012

Pity the Judge didn't have the balls to give him life without parole.

[Mondieu]

08:37 AM on 05/07/2012

This way is better. In 12 years he's out and we won't to pay for his medical expense.

[Ghoaster]

02:46 PM on 05/05/2012

1 down.

[Skeetshooter]

02:36 PM on 05/05/2012

Mandell's argument seems to be that he wasn't lying cheating and stealing, he was just telling investors what they wanted to hear, then pumping the stocks in question to make it so. Sorry to say, this is how a corporate world operates, and it's going to get much worse before it gets better.

[psnyder325]

10:28 AM on 05/05/2012

The belief system of the 1% that they are immune from justice is universal among them. It is time for the people of America to assure that they see a fair and impartial trial with no opportunity to buy off judges, and, if convicted by a jury, serious prison time. More importantly for the long run in America, it is time that our laws be changed to more equitably distribute the wealth of our nation. A privileged few should not get to hoard our natural resources, nor to utilize the laws to hoard wealth. Time to break up the cartels and get rid of such abusive privilege in our country for good.

[SSaffer]

11:04 AM on 05/05/2012

If only...

[dayzee10]

09:27 AM on 05/05/2012

The "I was a drunk" defense never holds up for a small time crook, why should it work for this greedy bastid?

[phatdaddy51]

07:53 AM on 05/05/2012

small potatoes are better than no potatoes, i guess. while the dangerous snakes continue to work their evil magic on our retirement funds