Photo: Naoki Nakashima
Stamford resident James Tagliaferri, 75, was sentenced to six years in prison, following a jury conviction in July 2014 for running an array of schemes to defraud his investment clients of millions of dollars.
Beginning in 2007 while running an investment company called TAG Virgin Islands, Tagliaferri diverted $16 million from client accounts, according to federal prosecutors in New York. He moved money between accounts for his own personal purposes, while hiding fees he levied from statements, and paid back clients who liquidated their holdings with him from funds that others invested.
Federal prosecutors in New York said Tagliaferri also created fictitious securities to be placed in client accounts that were not backed by actual obligations by companies those securities represented. Those companies included International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, a Garden City, N.Y. company that owned 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown and other thoroughbreds.
Tagliaferri was ordered to forfeit $2.5 million, including any ownership interest in a residential property in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
