Harvard Business School graduate arrested on charges he cheated fellow alums out of over US$4 million

This Nov. 13, 2008 file photo shows the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)

NEW YORK — A Harvard Business School graduate was arrested Thursday on fraud charges alleging he swindled fellow alumni of the prestigious school out of over US$4 million in a Ponzi scheme, even assuring one investor they would soon “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the school’s reunion.

Vladimir Artamonov, 46, was taken into custody in Elkridge, Maryland, where he lived, and was charged with securities, wire and investment adviser fraud for allegedly carrying out the scheme from September 2021 through February 2024.

An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court said Artamonov promised big returns and little risk to dupe former classmates and other alumni into investing with him, telling one investor: “It will be your best investment. The insight is air tight.”

Messages for comment left with Harvard and a lawyer for Artamonov were not immediately returned. Artamonov, appearing before a magistrate judge in federal court in Maryland, was released on US$300,000 bail with instructions to have no contact with victims or potential trial witnesses.

The allegations against Artamonov were first revealed in late February 2024 by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said in a news release then that her office learned about the fraud after one of several dozen investors ended his own life after learning he had lost US$100,000.

“Even sophisticated investors can be conned by fraudsters, especially when personal relationships and networks are used to build a false sense of trust,” James said.

She said Artamonov “used his alumnus status from Harvard Business School to prey on his classmates and others while seeming legitimate and dependable.”

Artamonov, a 2003 Harvard graduate with a master’s in business administration, used the school’s alumni network to identify investors, authorities said.

The indictment said he promised investors that he could identify securities on the verge of making large gains by spotting public insurance company filings by affiliates of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. prior to public filings made to the Securities and Exchange Commission that are more closely followed by investors.

Instead of following that plan, Artamonov put investor money into risky short-term options, losing millions of dollars, often within days of receiving the money from investors, the indictment said.

It said he repeatedly assured investors that big profits were on the horizon and even promised one investor that it was “almost certain we will make a ton of money” soon and that they would “brag” about their “crazy gains” at the Harvard Business School reunion.

Investors eventually demanded their money back, causing Artamonov to return less than US$400,000 by paying original investors with money from new investors or by declining to reimburse them at all, the indictment said.

It said Artamonov lost most of the money or spent tens of thousands of dollars on items such as lodging, food and alcohol, and transportation.

Christopher G. Raia, head of New York’s FBI office, said in a news release that Artamonov “exploited the prestige of a well-respected university and investment company to unlawfully procure investments, which he used to pay for personal expenses.”

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Artamonov “betrayed investors, including friends and former Ivy League classmates.”

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press