Law·CrimeHarvard School grad charged with swindling fellow alums out of $4 million in Ponzi schemeBy Larry NeumeisterBy The Associated PressBy Larry NeumeisterBy The Associated Press Harvard grads got took.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesA Harvard School graduate was arrested Thursday on fraud charges alleging he swindled fellow alumni of the prestigious school out of over $4 million in a Ponzi scheme, even assuring one investor they would soon “brag” their “crazy gains” at the school’s reunion.
Vladimir Artamonov, 46, was taken into custody in Elkridge, Maryland, where he d, 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 mised big returns and little risk to dupe former classmates and other alumni into with him, telling one investor: “It will be your best investment.
The insight is air tight.” Messages for 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 $300,000 bail with instructions to have no 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 the fraud after one of several dozen investors his own life after learning he had lost $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 from Harvard School to prey on his classmates and others while seeming legitimate and dependable.” Artamonov, a 2003 Harvard graduate with a master’s in administration, used the school’s alumni network to identify investors, authorities said.
The indictment said he mised 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 ed by investors.
Instead of ing 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 fits were on the horizon and even mised one investor that it was “almost certain we will make a ton of money” soon and that they would “brag” their “crazy gains” at the Harvard School reunion.
Investors eventually demanded their money back, causing Artamonov to return less than $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 rocure 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.”Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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