Eric Bloom is the next executive following similar paths of beleaguered financiers Bernard Madoff and R. Allen Stanford, who had since been carrying out their sentences after courts declared them guilty in multimillion-dollar fraud schemes. A jury consisting of eight men and four women in a Chicago Federal Court declared that Bloom was guilty of fraud-related charges after three hours of deliberations. Bloom was convicted of 18 counts of wire fraud and one count of investment adviser fraud for purportedly running a $500 million fraud scheme in the failed investment firm Sentinel Management Group Inc.
Sentinel had since filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007 following claims it had made to clients earlier that it was freezing their investment money due to the market volatility. Jury foreman Richard Yule as been quoted as saying that Bloom was deemed guilty in part due to the fact that he was the man in charge of Sentinel.
Bloomberg said that in 2012, Bloom and Sentinel head trader Charles Mosley were indicted on allegations that they cheated out at least 70 investors of over half a billion dollars in investment money through the firm, which had managed short-term investments for commodity pools, hedge funds, a pension fund, among other things from its officers in suburban Chicago, Bloomberg said. During the trial, prosecutors reportedly presented evidence that had proven allegations that Sentinel used client assets as collateral for their loans from Bank of New York Mellon Corp, and subsequently using the money to purchase assets for an account that is maintained for Sentinel and firm insiders' benefits.
Defense attorney Terence Campbell argued before the jury that Bloom acted in good faith and insisted that the company went bankrupt due to the unfavorable market environment. He said, "The government in this case is trying to blame Eric Bloom for the effects of the global financial crisis."
