Kenneth Starr, a New York investment adviser to celebrities such as movie director Martin Scorsese and actor Uma Thurman, was arrested by U.S. agents on Thursday on charges of running an alleged investment fraud of as much as $30 million, prosecutors said.
According to an affidavit filed in Manhattan federal court by an Internal Revenue Service agent, Starr ran a complex set of schemes involving his son, his wife, prominent New York Democratic Party politician Andrew Stein and “a former national official of a major political party,” and “a partner at a prominent national law firm.”
The criminal complaint charging Starr with wire fraud, investment adviser fraud and money laundering alludes to a “who’s who” of wealthy New Yorkers as his clients or associates — “an actress,” “an elderly heiress,” a “retired prominent basketball player” and a jeweler. None of them were identified in court documents.
Starr’s son, the complaint said, would ferry checks to and from clients and Starr’s associates, at one point traveling to Venezuela to transfer money on behalf of a client. The son has not been charged, but Stein is accused of lying to the IRS.
Read More: – By Grant McCool and Basil Katz, Reuters