[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

A mini-Madoff made off with more than $300 million of customer funds before U.S. prosecutors indicted him.  He was charged with 6 counts of wire and bank fraud and 3 counts of money laundering over alleged schemes to defraud Bear Stearns Cos, Barclays Plc, and BNP Paribas SA.  Like Bernie Madoff, Helmut Kiener, founder of hedge fund K1 Group, directed client money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a $37.1 million Bombardier jet, a $21 million Florida oceanfront property, a helicopter, 2 boats, and luxury cars including a Bentley, a Maybach, and a Mercedes.

The 53-year-old trained psychologist was convicted by a German court in his home country of running a Ponzi scheme.  All told, Kiener cost German investors €345 million (US$462 million), for which he was sentenced to 10-2/3 years in prison for 10 counts of fraud and tax evasion and 86 counts of falsifying documents.  Across the pond, U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger hopes to secure the extradition of Kiener to face the U.S. charges, which could translate to up to 200 years in prison – 50 more years than Madoff is currently serving.

"I am paying for being able to leave hell and return to purgatory." -- Kiener.

The case: U.S. v. Kiener, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Philadelphia, No. 13-cr-00062.

For further details, go to [Reuters, 2/7/13].