Opera-loving fraudster Alberto Vilar was re-sentenced Thursday to 10 years behind bars — a year longer than he originally received – for his 2008 fraud and money laundering conviction.
Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan said a longer term was necessary since Vilar, 73, went out of his way to prevent victims from being repaid — and two died waiting to get their money back.
“I have to agree with the government, that the defendants’ conduct was designed at every step to punish investors, particularly those who testified against them at trial,” Sullivan said.
The feds say the Cuban-born Vilar cheated investors out of $40 million through his San Francisco-based company.
Sullivan also handed the disgraced money manager’s ex-business partner, GaryTanaka, another year in jail – sentencing him to six years in prison for securities fraud and conspiracy charges.
The longer sentences came after a federal appeals court last August ordered both defendants resentenced following an unrelated 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affected how punishments should be calculated.
Both were ordered free on bail in fall 2012 while their appeal on the 2008 convictions was being considered. After their appeals were denied by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Sullivan in November revoked Vilar’s bail and threw him back in the slammer to continue serving what was then a nine-year sentence.
It is unclear whether the defendants will appeal the new sentences. Lawyers for the defendants declined comment, though Vivian Shevitz, Vilar’s lawyer, at the hearing said claims he stood in investors’ way of getting repaid were “completely untrue and unfair.”
Vilar’s generosity to arts-related charities had earned the fallen Philanthropist the reputation of being one of the Metropolitan Opera’s largest donors.
With Post wire services