Lyford Cay resident Viktor Kozeny, who faces 17 counts of fraud-related charges in the U.S., will either have to surrender to U.S. authorities or face extradition, according to a New York City district attorney.
Mr. Kozeny, a Czech financier, who now holds an Irish passport, was charged on October 2, 2003 with grand larceny. The charges stemmed from a 2002 case where he allegedly defrauded clients of New York Hedge Fund company Omega Advisors Inc. of $182 million in 1998. He could face 25 years in prison in the U.S.
Mr. Kozeny, 41, has managed to avoid arrest in the U.S. and has been living in the Bahamas since 1993.
A Czech newpaper, ‘The Prague Daily News’ said he was also charged in July 2002 in the Czech Republic for alleged fraud related to his ‘infamous’ Harvard Funds. Some 240,000 former clients of Harvard are reportedly still waiting for $403 million he promised them. He is expected to be tried in absentia as a fugitive and faces up to eight years in prison in the Czech Republic.
A Bahamas government spokesperson told The Guardian Wednesday that Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell was fully aware of the Kozeny case.
“But individual cases would not be something that we would comment on,” the spokesperson said.
Source: Mindell Small, The Nassau Guardian
