Yale Student Busted For Running A Fake Hedge Fund And Stealing $1.7 Million From Investors

Source - A Yale graduate is alleged to have bilked around a dozen investors out of millions of dollars after running a hedge fund scam when he should have been concentrating on his studies.  

Omar Zaki, now 21, pretended to run a hedge fund while he was enrolled at the Ivy League university and managed to convince 11 investors to pool their money with him.

He persuaded them to part with their cash by telling them how his firm relied on an algorithm that had produced incredible returns, sometimes as much as an unbelievable 114 per cent over a period of a decade. Even during the best years, the stock market rarely generates returns of more than 10 per cent annually.  

The Securities and Exchange Commission allege that Zaki’s claims were complete lies: that his fund never used such an algorithm, that he misled investors about how much money it managed and then deliberately wrongly reported returns in excess of 80 percent between December 2016 until March 2017.

Zaki is also alleged to have told investors how he managed between $2 and $5 million but had only raised $1.7 million in assets  from 11 individuals between January 2017 and February 2018. 

I’ve always been fascinated by people who deliberately use their intelligence to fuck people over. Bernie Madoff, Martin Shkreli, the contingent of Nigerian princes who consistently con senior citizens into signing away their life savings…it’s incredible. And while Omar clearly isn’t as successful a conman as any of the people I just listed, he’s still smart enough to have stolen $1.7 MILLION in his spare time while studying at Yale as a teenager and that deserves a tip of the cap.

It’s just too bad he’s going to have to spend the next twenty years in prison…

Zaki, who graduated from Yale last year with a bachelor’s degree in economics and physics, has not admitted nor denied the allegations made by the SEC findings, however he has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine. The SEC is even letting him pay in installments of around $2,000 a month over three years because he is a recent college graduate and now finds himself unemployed.

As part of the SEC settlement, Zaki has also agreed not to work as an investment adviser for at least three years.

A $25,000 fine and layaway to atone for his sins because he’s “a recent college graduate.” Apparently student loan relief applies to people who steal more money over the course of undergrad than most Americans make in their lifetime.

I’d love to sit down with him and ask how he did it. Like what was his script when he talked to these people? I’m picturing that scene from Wolf of Wall Street where Leo says he can teach anyone how to talk to rich people. Because anyone who donated this had to have had a significant amount of disposable income to be willing to write a check. And what did he do with the money? What can you possibly spend $1.7 million on when you’re living in a dorm? Was he going on vacations? Did he have an apartment in the city? Was he balling out in the dining hall? I need to know more.

Anyway, chances are this isn’t the last time we hear from Omar. He was so deep in the scamming lifestyle at such a young age, there’s no way he can quit. He’s not going to go work in a cube after experiencing that type of fast money. Once a scammer, always a scammer. Keep an eye on this kid.