Tampa investment adviser sentenced for fraud

TAMPA — Gignesh Movalia, a registered investment adviser in Tampa, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for leading a $9 million investment fraud scheme.

Movalia, 40, founded OM Global Investment Fund LLC in 2009, which he used to defraud investors. In 2011 and 2012, he raised more than $9 million from 130 investors by falsely claiming he had access to pre-IPO shares of Facebook stock.

Instead of using the money to buy shares, Movalia admitted that he invested the funds into other securities. OM Global Fund lost about $9 million before it went into receivership, with $6 million of those losses coming from the fraud scheme.

On Aug. 13, Movalia pleaded guilty to one count of investment adviser fraud. In addition to 18 months imprisonment, he was ordered to pay nearly $5.4 million in restitution and is subject to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.