Poor Ira Chilowitz. All he wanted was a business to call his own. Sadly his albeit daring and resourceful way of going about it has landed him with the prospect of a spell in the jailhouse.
Chilowitz pleaded guilty in New York federal court on Thursday last week to charges of stealing secret information about Morgan Stanley’s hedge fund clients and passing it along to another, unnamed former colleague.
He intention was to start a business that would advise hedge funds on how to pay their prime brokers, using proprietary data about Morgan Stanley’s hedge fund clients–information that could cost the company millions.
It remains unclear how the plan was foiled, though it may have been related to the fact that Chilowitz cunningly sent confidential lists and data from a Morgan Stanley computer to his personal AOL account.
He now faces 26 years in prison and fines up to $850,000 for theft and transporting stolen property, conspiracy, and unauthorized computer access.
The investigation is continuing.