UPDATE: A federal jury convicted Alberto W. Vilar of all 12 counts in his securities fraud trial on Wednesday, a final fall from grace for a man who gave millions of dollars to musical and other causes but was ostracized for falling short on his pledges.
After three days of deliberations, a verdict is reportedly imminent in the New York fraud trial of Alberto Vilar, a venture capitalist and philanthropist who pumped millions of dollars into cultural programs and facilities in the Vail Valley.
According to the Vail Daily and Bloomberg.com, jurors on Tuesday had reached a verdict on 17 of 24 counts facing Vilar and his former partner in Amerindo Investment Advisors, Gary Tanaka.
Both men are accused of improperly investing their clients’ funds and lying about it to federal regulators when the tech bubble burst and Amerindo lost millions. Vilar’s name was removed from Vail’s Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater after he was unable to meet charitable contributions, but it remains on the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, where Vilar owned a home.