Alberto W Vilar Jr

Alberto W. Vilar, a money manager with a love of opera who used his wealth to become a conspicuous arts patron but fell out of favor when he reneged on his pledges and eventually went to prison for defrauding clients, died on Saturday September 4 2021 at his home in Queens. He was 80. His sister and only immediate survivor, Carole Vilar Williams, said the cause was a heart attack. Mr. Vilar was convicted in 2008 of 12 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, among other charges. Federal prosecutors said that Mr. Vilar and a partner in his company, Amerindo Investment Advisors, had spent clients’ money on volatile technology stocks instead of the more stable investments they had promised. After losing millions, the prosecutors said, Mr. Vilar turned to fraud in an effort to pay expenses and to satisfy investors asking for money. For Mr. Vilar, who lived in a luxury apartment with marble floors and a large bronze statue of Mozart, the fall from grace was swift. The Met took his name off its grand tier; the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London removed “Vilar” from its Floral Hall; and the Salzburg Festival took his picture out of its programs. Mr. Vilar’s lawyer, Jonathan Marks, asked the judge for leniency and said that about $40 million could be gained by liquidating his clients’ assets, enough to repay the people he had swindled.