Manhattan fund manager charged with misappropriating $1.5 million

Donald LaGuardia, the co-founder and chief executive of the now-bankrupt investment firm, L-R Managers, has been arrested and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and investment adviser fraud in connection with his operation of the firm. [More:​ Investment adviser arrested and charged in $105 million securities fraud] An indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney's office in New York said that Mr. LaGuardia, of Lavallette, N.J., misappropriated more than $1.5 million from private investment funds managed by his firm over several years and used the stolen money to finance his personal and business expenses. [Recommended video:​ Why advisers are slow to recognize the world moving towards ESG] According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, from about 2013 through 2017, Mr. LaGuardia solicited millions of dollars from investors for the LR Global Frontier Master Fund and two related feeder funds that focused on investments in "frontier" markets in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Instead of investing the money in the funds, Mr. LaGuardia misappropriated investors' money to finance L-R Managers' payroll, to pay rent for its office space on Park Avenue in Manhattan, and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges on the firm's credit card, the indictment said, noting that at least $191,000 of the misappropriated money went directly to Mr. LaGuardia personally. [More:​ SEC highlights enforcement actions involving advisers and brokers] He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the securities and wire fraud counts and a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the investment adviser fraud count.