Thursday, February 19, 2009

Former Morgan Stanley Broker Prosecuted for Theft

A former Morgan Stanley vice president was arraigned on a 43-count indictment for stealing $2.5 million from the company over a seven-year period.

Richard Garaventa Jr., an ex-vice president in operations, wrote 50 company checks between Sept. 5, 2001, and Dec. 24, 2008, ranging from $8,670 to $74,812, made out to a firm he created, according to the indictment obtained by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and filed Feb. 17 in state court. Garaventa is being held on $1 million bail, prosecutors said.

Garaventa, 36, of Manalapan, New Jersey, incorporated an entity in New York in August 2001 called NY Transfer Corp., prosecutors said in a statement. He then opened a checking account at JPMorgan Chase & Co., depositing 50 checks from an in- house Morgan Stanley account to a NY Transfer account. Prosecutors said he used the money on airfare to Aruba and Florida and at least $30,000 worth of jewelry, and made tens of thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals.

Garaventa “admitted creating the NY Transfer Corp. entity and using dozens of checks to steal over $2 million,” prosecutors alleged in court papers. Garaventa made the admission to a Morgan Stanley representative in the company’s New York offices on Jan. 6, according to the documents.

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