Trader Who Ripped Off His Mom, Friends Gets 8 Years
- Michael Scronic’s Ponzi-like scam cost investors $22 million
- Ex-Morgan Stanley trader blamed gambling addiction for crime
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A former Morgan Stanley trader who ran a phony hedge fund from his rented home in the wealthy New York suburb of Pound Ridge, ripping off friends and even his mother, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the $22 million fraud.
Michael Scronic, 46, took money from 46 people, including a former college roommate who went on to become Facebook Inc.’s chief financial officer, in a seven-year scam that unraveled with his arrest by FBI agents last year. Scronic pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud, admitting that he lost the money betting on risky short-term options, while taking about $500,000 a year to cover his expenses.