Rogue Financier Charged

Rogue financier Martin R. Frankel is charged with fraud and money laundering in a 36-count federal indictment, the U.S. attorney's office announced Thursday.

Frankel, 44, under arrest in Germany, is accused of absconding with more than $200 million in insurance company assets he was supposed to be investing.

He disappeared from his fortress-like Greenwich mansion in early May. Days later, firefighters responding to an automatic alarm found the homes littered with smoldering documents and a "to-do" list upon which item No. 1 was "Launder money."

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Frankel had been barred from securities trading years earlier by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He worked from his two-home compound in suburban New York City, which featured numerous television sets, computers and the high-tech tools of international finance.

When it appeared his financial dealings were about to be exposed some time in early May, investigators say, Frankel fled to Europe with a wad of cash and a cache of diamonds, living first in Italy and later in Germany.

Frankel was arrested in Hamburg, Germany, on Sept. 4. He remains in a prison there, awaiting extradition to the United States. Frankel has said he plans to fight extradition, although both his American and German lawyers have said they plan to quit the case because Frankel has no money and cannot pay them.

The indictment charges Frankel with 20 counts of wire fraud, 13 counts of money laundering and one count each of securities fraud, racketeering and conspiracy.

Each wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; each money laundering charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, as are the racketeering and conspiracy charges. The securities fraud charge carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

If convicted of all charges, Frankel faces a maximum of 410 years in prison.

The indictment accuses Frankel of running a "racketeering enterprise" which bought up insurance companies. Frankel then siphoned the insurers' cash reserves and used them to purchase mansions, cars, diamonds and gold.

Hugh Keefe, who withdrew as Frankel's U.S. lawyer last week after federal authorities froze all of the fugitive's assets, said the indictment will make it easier to extradite Frankel.

"The indictment, of course, was inevitable, and starts the formal legal process in this country," Keefe said.

Keefe said Thomas G. Dennis, chief federal public defender in Hartford, was appointed as Frankel's lawyer earlier this week. Dennis could not be reached for comment. A message was left at his Hartford office.

Frankel's new lawyer in Germany, Dirk Meinecke, could not be reached. A call to his office late Thursday evening German time went unanswered.