A former Platinum Partners fund manager was found guilty of engaging in a fraud scheme to rig a bond vote at an an oil and gas company, Bloomberg News reported. Daniel Small was accused of conspiring with Mark Nordlicht, Platinum’s co-founder, in a scheme to defraud bondholders of Black Elk Energy Offshore LLC of the proceeds of a lucrative asset sale. He was convicted on two of three counts on Friday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Prosecutors said while Platinum was experiencing a liquidity crisis, it had a controlling stake in Houston-based Black Elk. Small was accused of conspiring with Nordlicht and others to rig a Black Elk bondholder vote by concealing Platinum’s majority control of its bonds, diverting $70 million in asset sale proceeds to Platinum, federal prosecutors in the office of Breon Peace said.
