Kiener Confesses to Using Ponzi-Scheme Tactics to Save K1
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K1 Group founder Helmut Kiener, accused of running a 345 million-euro ($500 million) Ponzi scheme, told a court he manipulated account statements and lacked the “courage” to shut his hedge fund after he realized the scale of the losses.
Kiener, 51, admitted that he attempted to make up for losses with funds from new investors in a statement read at his fraud trial today in Wuerzburg, Germany. His lawyer, Achim Groepper, described the testimony after the hearing as “a confession, for the most part.”