Fund managers sentenced to prison for fraud

Ten former managers of the Trend and Mercia investment funds have been sentenced by a Hradec Kralové court for illegally stripping the trusts’ assets. Miroslav Hálek, who is thought to have been behind the fraud, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Five other senior managers received lesser prison sentences, while four of those convicted were handed suspended sentences. The men were found guilty of embezzling more than 1.4 billion crowns (84.25 billion USD) from the two funds during the mid-nineties. One man was cleared of all charges.