Financiers Greenwood, Walsh indicted for fraud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two U.S. money managers arrested in February on charges of running a $554 million fraud at their firm for more than a decade, have been indicted by a grand jury, according to court documents released on Friday.

Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh were charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, commodities fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and money laundering in the indictment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

U.S. prosecutors are demanding that the men forfeit at least $131 million of investor money they received in the purported conspiracy at WG Trading and WG Investors between 1996 and February this year, according to the court papers.

"These payments were directed to Greenwood and Walsh, to members of their families, to various entities that they or their family members controlled, and/or to persons and entities for goods including antiques and collectibles and services," the indictment said.

The money managers of the Greenwich, Connecticut company oversaw assets of institutional investors including Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Lawyers for Greenwood and Walsh could not immediately be reached for comment. The accused have been out on bail since their arrest in February while the investigation proceeds.

The indictment said that Greenwood and Walsh issued promissory notes of a combined $554 million to WG investors to conceal their misappropriation of funds "and the fact that neither WG Trading nor WG Investors was profitable."

On Tuesday, the firm's former chief compliance officer pleaded guilty to criminal charges of illegally transferring more than $100 million to chief financial officer Greenwood and chief executive officer Walsh.

Under a plea agreement Deborah Duffy, 54, who worked for 18 years for the Greenwich, Connecticut, company, will be required to cooperate with prosecutors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission also brought civil charges against the money managers in February. Both are former part owners of the New York Islanders National Hockey League Team.

(Reporting by Martha Graybow and Grant McCool, editing by Matthew Lewis and Carol Bishopric)