You’d be forgiven for thinking that after The Wall Street Journal’s front-page story indicating he was an epic liar, probably running a Ponzi scheme, who many strongly suspect of hiring an elegantly dressed assassin to kill his wife, Danny Pang would be one of two places: trying not to get shivved in a central facility or midway through an elaborate faux suicide. But no! In the two days since the story appeared, he has continued to preside over his $4 billion private-equity firm.
The slow-moving apparatus of the law has yet to come down on Pang. But in the aftermath of the Journal’s front-page takedown and subsequent reporting, which alleged that Pang’s PEM Group didn’t audit funds, federal civil and criminal officials have begun looking into allegations of impropriety, leading Pang to step aside “temporarily,” the paper says today. But no charges have been filed against him, and no officials have even confirmed that they are looking into him.
In the civil inquiry, an attorney for a former president of Mr. Pang’s firm—Private Equity Management Group Inc.—said he has been contacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Los Angeles office. The lawyer, Jeffrey Benice, said he will meet with the agency early next week. An SEC official declined to comment. Federal criminal investigators are also looking at the firm, known as PEMGroup, a person familiar with that matter said Thursday. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles didn’t have any comment, nor did a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los Angeles office.
And Pang’s office is denying everything. So, as of right now, the only organization declaring this guy is (allegedly!) guilty of anything is the Journal. They must be feeling pretty lonely.
Pang Steps Aside at Firm as U.S. Launches Probe [WSJ]
Earlier: And the Title for Most Insane Alleged Fraud of 2009 (So Far) Goes To…
