A judge has ruled that a Rockland fraudster whose current address is a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut has to pay $31.6 million to one set of victims in a massive Ponzi scheme.
The actions of Vania Bell “were highly reprehensible,” U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti stated in an Oct. 15 opinion, “involving fraud and deceit over many years with full knowledge that her actions were unlawful.”
Bell, 59, and her father, Hector May, 83, ran Executive Compensation Planners Inc., a financial planning firm in New City, Rockland County.
They persuaded clients to move outside brokerage accounts to their firm, but instead of using funds to buy bonds, they diverted money to themselves.
In the classic Ponzi pattern, they concealed the fraud by using stolen funds to pay clients who wanted to redeem their investments.
Robert and Judith Jamieson, of Riverside, Connecticut, were among their victims. In 1999, the Jamiesons hired Hector May as their investment adviser.
He persuaded the couple that he was acting in their best interests, not only as a financial adviser but as a close friend.
Beginning in 2001, Hector May regularly advised the Jamiesons to transfer money from brokerage accounts to a bank account titled in the name of Executive Compensation Planners for the benefit of the Jamiesons. The new account was supposed to be used for buying municipal bonds.
But there was no such beneficiary account, according to court records. The bank account was held only by Executive Compensation Planners, giving Hector May and Vania Bell full access to the money.
In 2018, Mrs. Jamieson, acting against Hector May’s advice, decided to move funds to a different brokerage account. That’s when she learned that the $14.1 million the couple invested had dwindled to $51,313.
Father and daughter both pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Hector May was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Vania Bell was sentenced to six year and eight months.
In 2019, the Jamiesons sued Hector May and Vania Bell for $18 million, in White Plains federal court.
Judge Briccetti ruled in 2022 that Hector May had to pay back $31.6 million. The calculation includes $20.6 million in compensatory damages, $20.6 million in punitive damages, minus $9.5 million that the Jamiesons got back from a brokerage for failure to properly supervise the accounts.
Judge Briccetti’s new new ruling is in response to the Jamiesons request for summary judgment against Vania Bell, on charges of aiding and abetting fraud and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty.
Vania Bell knew that her father was stealing money, judge Briccetti noted. She told the Jamiesons how to transfer their funds. She prepared fake account statements that overstated the Jamiesons’ account balances by millions of dollars. She led the family to believe that the investments were safe.
The judge cited her testimony in a plea hearing. Her father told her “he was using the money to make payroll and fund his lifestyle. … Initially, my dad said that he planned to pay this money back,” she testified. “I trusted my father would pay it back, but I later realized that the amount of money was so large that he would never be able to pay it back.”
It is undisputed, Briccetti found, that Vania Bell acted with her father to cause a financial loss to the Jamiesons. Thus, she must be held jointly responsible for the damages.
Vania Bell is scheduled for release from prison in January 2028. Hector May, who is imprisoned at the USP Canaan in Waymart, Pennsylvania is scheduled for release in August 2029.
The court records offer no insight as to how the father and daughter can satisfy a $31.6 million obligation.
