Former hedge fund controller sentenced for embezzlement

A Greenwich man was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport to four years in prison for embezzling more than $9 million from the hedge fund that previously employed him.

Lawrence J. Herzing, 45, the former controller of Greenwich-based Contrarian Capital Management LLC, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer for wiring $9.2 million over a nine-year span from the company.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office in Connecticut, Herzing wired funds from his employer to accounts that he controlled on 32 occasions between 2004 and 2013. Meyer ordered Herzing to pay full restitution as well as forfeit his home and the funds seized from his accounts.

Herzing was arrested in October and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Greenwich Police Department, and prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Heather Cherry and Jonathan Francis. Herzing’s sentence includes three years of supervised release after the four years of prison time.