Nadel’s wife has funds frozen

The receiver in the case involving Sarasota hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel has moved to freeze a trust fund of Nadel’s wife and seize property the couple own in North Carolina.

Also, a federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion filed by two creditors to recoup more than $4 million in funds loaned to a Georgia aviation company that Arthur Nadel had an ownership stake in to buy two private jets.

Federally appointed receiver Burton Wiand announced this week that he was freezing the Marguerite J. Nadel Revocable Trust because its $650,000 in assets had been funded through Arthur Nadel’s alleged scheme to defraud investors, according to court documents.

The receiver also moved to seize a 430-acre tract of land near Asheville, N.C. that the Nadels owned and planned to turn into planned residential development.

At least $2.9 million in funds was funneled into the property through Arthur Nadel’s company, Scoop Capital Management, according to the receiver.

Arthur Nadel awaits trial in New York after being charged with one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investigators say he told investors his hedge funds were producing market-beating returns when they were actually losing money.

They expect as much as $350 million changed hands in the scheme, which left about 600 investors nationwide without their money.

The government maintains that Arthur Nadel also used his ill-gotten funds to pay for two private jets he kept at the Tradewind aviation center in Georgia.

General Electric Capital and VFS Financing Inc. had both filed motions to intervene in the proceedings to recoup the combined more than $4.7 million they loaned to purchase the jets.

U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara denied the companies’ motions on Wednesday and canceled a hearing in the matter scheduled for today, partly because the intervention would delay adjudication of the case.