Hatfield courthouse.JPG
Yusaf Jawed was sentenced in Portland's Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse.
(Doug Beghtel/ The Oregonian)
Portland-area hedge fund manager Yusaf Jawed apologized to the government, his family and victims of his $6.4 million Ponzi scheme moments before a federal judge sentenced him on Monday to 6 1/2 years in a federal prison camp.
"I'd like to unconditionally apologize," Jawed told Judge Ancer L. Haggerty in U.S. District Court. He also apologized to his wife, ex-wife and the investors who trusted him. "If I could take this back, I would."
Jawed faced a minimum of more than eight years in prison, according to a government sentencing memorandum. But his substantial assistance to the government, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and lawyers representing victims of his fraud made him eligible for the lighter sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Allan M. Garten told the court.
Government prosecutors say Jawed scammed investors out of $6.4 million in 2008 and 2009 from a hedge he controlled called Alpha Qualified Fund.
"The government will not belabor the point that Jawed ran a Ponzi scheme and that his promises were materially and demonstrably false," Garten wrote in his sentencing memo.
"Essentially, Jawed invested very little of the money," he wrote. "Much of it was used to pay back investors in other funds. In addition, a huge chunk of the money was transferred to his general management account for operational costs, for his own personal enjoyment, for luxury travel, to pay back a personal loan and for broker commissions."
-- Bryan Denson