Vodka investment fraudster jailed for one year

An American lawyer who collected more than US$1.5m through a bogus vodka investment scheme has been jailed for one year.

A US lawyer has been jailed for defrauding investors through a bogus vodka company

Dallas-based attorney Andrew Lee Siegel, 56, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in January this year and faced 25 years in federal prison.

Investigators found he secured funds from nearly 30 investors to establish vodka production and bottling companies, but kept some of the cash for his personal use.

Law360 now reports that Siegel has been sentenced buy US District Judge Ed Kinkeade to serve 12 months and one day in federal prison, and has been ordered to pay more than US$285,000 in fines.

Prosecutors said Siegel sent out “fake” emails to investors, who subsequently accused him of misusing funds they had entrusted to Dynasty Spirits LLC.

Between September 2011 and July 2012, Siegel collected about US$1.5m to sell stocks in Dynasty Spirits, but used more than US$400,000 for personal benefit, prosecutors said.

Siegel established Dynasty Spirits and another company called Speak Easy Distillers in 2010 to produce the Nue Vodka brand, and was authorised to sell up to US$2m in common stock in 2012.

Siegel also pleaded guilty to copyright infringement after he was found to have sent fake emails using logos from the Northern Trust Company and Federal Reserve Bank to cover up his tracks.

In 2013, Siegel also launched Vanguard Spirits LLC, reports Law360, to create Vanguard Vodka.

In the same year, Siegel allegedly stole US$210,000 from another client to pay back to Dynasty’s stakeholders. As the paper trail grew, Siegel then used Vanguard funds to reimburse this client, prosecutors claim.

However, under his plea, Siegel has not admitted wrongdoing with regards to these later allegations.

Siegel has been ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by 15 October.