Mark Varacchi

Mark Varacchi
Born:	August 11, 1969
Charges:	Securities fraud, Wire fraud, Conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud
Sentence:	15 months federal prison
Facility:	FCI Otisville
Status:	Released

Mark Varacchi is an American former hedge fund executive turned fraud prevention speaker, federal prison consultant, and compliance consultant who served fifteen months at FCI Otisville for securities fraud and wire fraud.

After over twenty years in the hedge fund and private equity industry, including senior operations positions at Tiger Management, Bear Stearns, and Diamondback Capital Management, Varacchi co-founded Sentinel Growth Fund Management LLC, which managed two hedge funds out of offices in Stamford, Connecticut and New York City. In February 2017, Varacchi pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud related to the misappropriation of investor funds.

Following his fifteen-month sentence at FCI Otisville, a minimum-security federal prison camp in New York, Varacchi founded a federal prison consultancy and established himself as a sought-after speaker to compliance professionals, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies about fraud prevention techniques and risk mitigation strategies.

Career Background

Mark Varacchi built an extensive career in the hedge fund and private equity industry spanning more than two decades before his legal troubles. His professional trajectory took him through some of the most prominent names in finance, providing him with deep operational expertise in fund management, trading operations, and financial controls.

Early Career and Bear Stearns

Varacchi began his career in finance working as an internal control accountant at Bear Stearns, the global investment bank and securities trading firm that would later become a casualty of the 2008 financial crisis. At Bear Stearns, Varacchi developed foundational experience in financial controls, regulatory compliance, and the operational mechanics of securities trading. This early exposure to the inner workings of a major financial institution would shape his understanding of both legitimate financial operations and the vulnerabilities within financial systems.

Tiger Management and Hedge Fund Operations

Following his time at Bear Stearns, Varacchi moved into the hedge fund industry, working at Tiger Management, the legendary hedge fund founded by Julian Robertson that became one of the most successful investment firms of the 1990s. Tiger Management was known for its rigorous analytical approach and for spawning numerous successful "Tiger Cubs" - hedge funds started by former Tiger employees. Varacchi's time at Tiger Management exposed him to sophisticated investment strategies and the operational demands of managing large-scale hedge fund operations.

Diamondback Capital and Trading Desk Experience

Varacchi subsequently held senior operations positions at Diamondback Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund based in Stamford, Connecticut. From 1999 to 2001, he sat directly on the trading desk at a hedge fund with over $4 billion in assets under management that was later involved in what has been described as the largest insider trading case in history. This proximity to high-stakes trading and the subsequent legal scrutiny faced by the firm provided Varacchi with firsthand observation of how financial misconduct unfolds and how enforcement actions are conducted.

COO Role and International Operations

Varacchi served as Chief Operating Officer of a USA/International Equity Fund for over four years, where he managed complex financial instruments including trades, swaps, options, and contracts for difference (CFDs) across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This role required navigating multiple regulatory frameworks and managing counterparty relationships with financial institutions across different jurisdictions. The experience gave him comprehensive knowledge of international fund operations and the challenges of maintaining compliance across borders.

Education

Varacchi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, providing him with formal academic training in financial analysis, corporate finance, and investment principles that complemented his extensive practical experience in the industry.

Criminal Case

Sentinel Growth Fund Management

Varacchi co-founded Sentinel Growth Fund Management LLC, which operated offices in Stamford, Connecticut and New York City. Sentinel managed two hedge funds, Radar Alternative Fund LP and Radar Alternative Master Fund SPC, which were marketed to investors as vehicles for allocating capital to emerging hedge fund managers.

The firm presented itself to potential investors as a fund of funds that would identify promising emerging managers and allocate investor capital to their strategies. This business model appealed to investors seeking diversification and access to hedge fund talent that might otherwise be difficult to access with smaller capital commitments. However, according to federal prosecutors and the SEC, the actual operations of Sentinel diverged significantly from these representations.

Charges and Guilty Plea

On February 1, 2017, Varacchi pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. According to the SEC complaint filed the following day, Varacchi and Sentinel misrepresented to investors that money deposited with the firm would be allocated to emerging hedge fund managers for investment purposes. Instead, Sentinel and Varacchi commingled investor assets and manipulated account activity.

In his guilty plea, Varacchi admitted to misappropriating funds provided by investors for the purchase and sale of securities, then obtaining funds from other investors to make payments to earlier investors whose funds had been misappropriated. The SEC alleged that $3.95 million was stolen from investors through this scheme.

Sentencing and Incarceration

Varacchi was sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison. He served his sentence at FCI Otisville, a minimum-security federal prison camp located in Orange County, New York. FCI Otisville has housed numerous white-collar offenders and has been referred to in media coverage as a relatively comfortable federal facility compared to higher-security institutions.

During his incarceration at Otisville, Varacchi had the opportunity to interact with other federal inmates, many of whom were serving sentences for financial crimes. These interactions would later inform his prison consulting work and his fraud prevention speaking, as he gathered insights into the methods, motivations, and rationalizations of financial criminals from diverse backgrounds. Varacchi has stated that he interviewed hundreds of fellow inmates about their crimes, building a database of fraud techniques and patterns that informs his current work.

Civil Judgment and SEC Action

On May 1, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut entered a judgment against Varacchi and Sentinel Growth Fund Management, permanently enjoining them from violations of securities laws. The court also entered judgment against the Radar Alternative Fund LP and Radar Alternative Master Fund SPC and appointed a receiver to oversee assets of Sentinel and the Radar Funds. The receivership was established to marshal remaining assets and distribute them to defrauded investors.

Co-Conspirator Outcomes

Steven Simmons of Wilton, Connecticut was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in April 2018 for his role in the scheme, ordered to forfeit $6.9 million, and required to pay restitution to victims. Joseph Meli pleaded guilty in October 2017. Jason Rhodes was sentenced to four years in prison in September 2021 for defrauding investors of approximately $20 million.

Post-Release Career

Following his release from FCI Otisville, Varacchi has built a multifaceted career drawing on his experiences in finance, his criminal case, and his time in federal prison. His current work spans three primary areas: federal prison consulting, fraud prevention speaking, and compliance consulting for companies seeking to strengthen their internal controls and regulatory compliance programs.

Federal Prison Consultancy

Varacchi founded a federal prison consulting firm to assist federal defendants and their families in navigating the complexities of the federal criminal justice system. The consultancy provides services that Varacchi describes as addressing practical matters that law school does not adequately prepare attorneys to handle, including presentence investigation report preparation, sentencing strategy, prison facility designation advocacy, and family readiness planning.

Services include presentence investigation (PSI/PSR) review and customized additions, sentencing preparation for defendants and family members, prison facility designation discussion and advocacy, medical record review and prescription evaluation, assistance with Bureau of Prisons administrative filings including BP-8, BP-9, and BP-10 forms, monthly newsletters on BOP policy changes, and credit monitoring and repair assistance.

Compliance Consulting

Building on his decades of experience in hedge fund operations and his intimate knowledge of how financial fraud is perpetrated, Varacchi provides compliance consulting services to companies seeking to strengthen their fraud prevention capabilities and regulatory compliance programs. His consulting work helps organizations identify vulnerabilities in their internal controls, develop more robust compliance frameworks, and train employees to recognize and prevent fraudulent activity.

Varacchi's compliance consulting draws on his unique perspective as someone who both designed and exploited financial control systems. He works with companies to assess their existing compliance infrastructure, identify potential weaknesses that could be exploited by internal or external bad actors, and implement practical improvements that address real-world fraud risks rather than theoretical compliance checkboxes.

Fraud Prevention Speaking

Varacchi speaks to compliance professionals, financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, universities, and law schools about financial fraud techniques and prevention strategies. His presentations draw on his experience building and then exploiting financial systems, covering topics including anti-money laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC) compliance, game theory applications in fraud prevention, and the impact of artificial intelligence on financial crime.

Varacchi has spoken to Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) chapters, including presentations titled "I Ran a Ponzi Scheme (So You Don't Have To): An Insider's Guide to Fraud Prevention and Risk Mitigation." He has received positive reviews from ACFE chapter leadership for his fraud prevention insights and his candid approach to discussing his own criminal conduct.

A distinctive element of Varacchi's speaking work involves data compiled from interviews with hundreds of financial criminals. Through his prison consultancy work and his time incarcerated at Otisville, Varacchi has gathered information about fraud patterns and techniques that he states is not available through conventional academic or law enforcement research. This firsthand data includes information about how fraudsters rationalize their behavior, how they identify and exploit control weaknesses, and how they evade detection.

Expert Witness Services

Varacchi provides expert witness services related to financial fraud, compliance, and ethics matters. His expertise in hedge fund operations, combined with his firsthand experience with both perpetrating and understanding financial fraud, positions him to provide testimony in civil and criminal matters involving securities fraud, compliance failures, and financial misconduct.

Media Appearances

Varacchi has appeared on multiple podcasts discussing his criminal case, his path to fraud, and his current fraud prevention and prison consulting work. These appearances have provided platforms for Varacchi to share his perspective on financial crime and the lessons he has drawn from his experience:

• Nightmare Success In and Out with Brent Cassity (August 2024)
• Fraudish podcast (November 2024)
• A Study in Crime podcast (April 2025)

See also

• Securities fraud
• Ponzi scheme
• Federal prison consulting
• Anti-money laundering
• FCI Otisville

External links

• Mark Varacchi official website