Posted on 07/27/2005 4:43:49 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Shackled and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Brad Bleidt pleaded guilty yesterday to 115 counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering tied to a long-running financial scam that bilked more than $27 million from investors - many of them elderly citizens left destitute by his money-hungry ambitions.
``I am guilty, and I think the healing process should start with my admission,'' the 51-year-old Bleidt told U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston's federal court.
But some of his scam victims expressed disappointment at Bleidt's proposed sentence under the plea agreement: 11 years and three months.
Judge Young will have final say at a sentencing hearing in October. He noted yesterday that Bleidt could have faced up to 14 years in prison.
David and Margie Richardson of Swampscott said they believed in Bleidt to the tune of more than $100,000 - roughly one-third of their retirement nest egg.
``He stole money and he stole trust,'' David Richardson said as he was leaving the federal courthouse with his wife. ``I'd like to know why. If it was for pure greed, then I don't feel at all sorry for him.''
As far as restitution is concerned, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said prosecutors have only identified about $200,000 in assets - scarcely loose change to make up for the tens of millions Bleidt admits to stealing from investors.
An auction earlier this month of Bleidt's possessions raised just $56,000.
``We never wanted to give any false hope to the victims,'' Sullivan said. ``A number of people will never be able to recover financially from this harm.''
Bleidt's mea culpa and his sentence left victim Bill Kelley of Marblehead feeling even emptier than when he realized his $20,000 investment was probably lost forever.
``Even though he looked contrite today,'' Kelley said of Bleidt, ``he's an actor. He hurt people who didn't deserve it - innocent people.''
Silvestre Fontes, senior trial counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, said federal officials will continue to do whatever it takes to help those defrauded by Bleidt, who still faces a civil charge filed by regulators trying to get the purloined funds back.
"We at the commission continue to work hard along with the receiver for the purposes of recovering as much of the lost monies as possible for the benefit of investors,'' said Fontes. ``We're pleased with the fact that (Bleidt) is apparently coming to the point where he's accepting responsibility.''
The plea may clear the way for the court-appointed receiver to broach an agreement with Bleidt as well, and avoid litigating a costly civil case.
``I think it would be very much in the interest of the receiver, and I think the SEC as well, to pursue an agreement with him,'' said Kevin Fitzgerald, the Nixon Peabody attorney for court-appointed receiver David Vicinanzo.
Bleidt, the former head of Boston-based Allocation Plus Asset Management and ex-owner of WBIX (AM-1060) radio station, created a sensation late last year after he tried to kill himself.
Before his apparently botched suicide attempt, he sent tape recordings to his wife (TV and radio personality Bonnie Bleidt), his mother, regulators and business associates outlining his Ponzi-like scams over the years. Bleidt ripped off his own mother, friends, acquaintances, business associates and others who handed him cash to invest.
He reportedly spent money to prop up his business, to help buy WBIX and live a comfortable life in Manchester-by-the-Sea, amid a prized art collection of only modest value.
Heartless, ruthless, heinous.
And from the Boston Globe: >>According to prosecutors, Bleidt took money from about 125 clients, many of them retirees; instead of investing it, he put much of it to personal use. Using other people's money, he purchased the radio station WBIX-AM...
"''I wish it had gone to a jury, where he may have gotten more time," Louis Boeri, 74, of Burlington, told the Associated Press."
If he's sentenced to 11 yrs, he'll serve about 9 (assuming he behaves well).
Thanks for posting.
Wife Bonnie said she "had no idea" her husband was doing this:
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20041118/BU_003.htm
Bonnie and Brad Bleidt were nicknamed "Bonnie and Clyde"
by members of a Boston radio messageboard.
Sure thing.........now the got caught.
Makes you wonder if he'll get a cell with "windows"?
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