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The Manhattan District Attorney is investigating the possibility that fugitive hedge-fund manager Brian Kim — charged this week with running a $4 million Ponzi scheme — is hiding out in Italy after going on the lam, The Post has learned.
The 35-year-old East Village moneyman and founder of downtown’s Liquid Capital Management, who went AWOL last month, allegedly used some of the purloined loot to finance luxury shopping sprees to Barneys New York and Coach and to fuel gambling runs to Atlantic City and ski trips to Vermont.
Kim was hit this week with civil and criminal charges related to his alleged bilking of at least 45 West Coast investors as part of a scheme that stretches as far back as 2003. Regulators this week also froze his assets.
Also, in a separate charge, the mini-Bernie Madoff is accused of stealing more than $400,000 from the condo association at Christodora House, an East Village high rise where he owned an apartment.
The alleged Ponzi schemer enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame in 2009, when he twice appeared on CNBC to talk about derivatives trading. His alleged scam, perhaps fueled by that notoriety, continued through late last year.
The Manhattan DA’s office discovered Kim was missing after he failed to show up for a Jan. 4 trial as part of earlier charges, where he stood accused of stealing $435,000 from the Christodora House.
In regards to the condo funds, Kim allegedly falsified documents identifying himself as the president-secretary of the condo association, allowing him to transfer $435,000 from the association’s bank account to a bank account he set up for Liquid Capital. Within a month of making the transfers, he depleted all the money he had stolen — trading most of it away.
Kim was arrested in 2009 as part of that scheme, which led to an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into his hedge-fund business, which focuses on futures trading.
He now faces three indictments for stealing money from his condominium association, jumping bail and financial fraud.
The authorities suspect Kim fled the country, and they’re now investigating the possibility that the Queens native may have traveled to Italy, The Post has learned.
Kim’s gal pal in Rome, Carol Ann Ransaw, was searching for Kim as recently as January after he failed to call her over the Christmas holidays, sources said.
But when reached yesterday by The Post, Ransaw, a 33-year-old makeup artist, acted strangely and assured the caller that Kim was OK.
“I can’t comment on anything. Everything’s fine. He’s fine,” said Ransaw, who lived on the Upper East Side prior to moving to Rome. When asked if she was with Kim, she refused to answer.
Ransaw, who’s credited for makeup in the film “The Eyes of Van Gogh,” scoffed at the suggestion that Kim might have been facing financial troubles, and said of the allegations he cheated investors: “It happens all the time.”
“He’s a really great person, that’s all I can say,” she said.
Meanwhile, the new residents of Kim’s office space said he cleared out of the Broadway office complex — which he ran almost single-handedly — well before December.