The U.S. Appeals Court this morning upheld US Federal District Judge Richard Sullivan’s
order to revoke bail for Alberto Vilar, sending the former philanthropist back to prison to complete his nine-year sentence (we are informed by a friend of the defendant). He had been out on bail since October 2012.
The order means that Vilar, 73, and his former partner Gary Tanaka, 70, must surrender to Pre-Trial Services in downtown Manhatttan by 2 pm local time where two Federal Marshals are expected to pick them up.
The three-member appeals panel also denied the defendants’ request for a stay of Sullivan’s order to remand the two to prison by today, pending re-sentencing which isn’t expected until early next year. In September the panel upheld the convictions, but ordered the district court to recalculate fraud-related losses which could reduce Vilar’s nine-year sentence. He has served four years already.
No all is lost, said Vilar’s lawyer Vivian Shevitz. Vilar and Tanaka could be freed within a week if agreement is reach on new bail packages, she said. In Vilar’s case, three of his friends had signed a personal recognizance bond for a total of ten million dollars.
Vilar was convicted by a jury in 2008 on all 12 counts, including investors fraud and conspiracy charges. Sullivan sentenced him to nine years under federal guidelines. Tanaka was found guilty on three counts and received a five-year sentence.
The government charged that the two former principals of Amerindo Investment Advisers Inc with have stolen $22 million dollars from a handful of offshore clients. Shevitz argued unsuccessfully that there were no losses, and accused the government of hiding material exculpatory facts from the jury.
The jury never learned that more than $40 million were left in frozen accounts at JPMorgan Chase, more than enough to make all “victims’ whole. This fact come out at Vilar’s sentencing hearing long after the jury had been dismissed.
The money was never managed and JPMorgan to this day has not paid any interest on these funds.
Last time Hilary Hahn made it to the top of the Nielsen charts, she sold just 500 copies in a week.
This time she sold 1341 units of the ‘In 27 pieces’ recording. The album is made up of new commissions.
She’s also #1 on Billboard.
Go, that violin case!
This is an extraordinary misfortune to befall one of the world’s top violinists. Leonidas Kavakos waits through the orchestral introduction to Mozart’s concerto K216 in Helsinki. His entry is perfectly timed. But atmospheric conditions have caused the E string to go slack.
Here’s what happened.
Cool as a Finn (which he’s not), Kavakos retunes and starts again.
He had a bad time in Salzburg this summer, squeezing a flabby Cosi fan tutte into an already overcrowded schedule. Now Christoph Eschenbach is being attacked in Vienna for the failure of its new Magic Flute. ‘Meaningless’ said the review in Kurier. Unclean, bloodless, rough sound, said Der Standard. He upset the orchestra, say Kleine Zeitung and Wiener Zeitung. That’s quite a trashing.
photo © Matthias Creutziger
A few years back, a rich German told the Lucerne Festival he’d pay for an opera house. Plans were made, architects engaged. A Salle Modulable was envisaged, a space of infinite flexibility. Then Christof Engelhorn died, in August 2010, before a brick was laid.
His family trust refused to honour the pledge of 120 million Swiss francs. The festival sued. The case has come to court in Bermuda.
It is hardly being reported in Swiss media. So here’s the latest from the courtroom.
It seems likely the outcome will hinge on evidence from Lucerne Festival director, Michael Haefliger, described by the defendants’ counsel as a “master of public relations”.
He smokes crack, threatens homicide, slams into women councillors, he’s Toronto’s finest. Has to be an opera, right?
Musicians aged 12 to 24 have received notice that one of the country’s premier youth orchestras is no more. SBS Youth Orchestra founder, Matthew Krel, died four years ago and no-one has been found big enough to fit the bill. Sad day. Opportunities for young Aussie musicians just got fewer.
