Danny Pang dead – financiar was under investigation

Danny Pang an Orange County financier accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors millions of dollars died on Saturday at the age of 42. Danny Pang first appeared in the news when his wife (33) former topless dancer Janie Louise Pang, was shot and killed in their home in 1997 in which Pang’s attorney, Hugh “Randy” McDonald, was charged with the killing.

Police had been called to his house in a gated community at about 3:30 p.m. on Friday on a medical emergency call, and paramedics took him to the hospital. Pang died at about 5 a.m. at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. The cause of death was not immediately available while an autopsy was scheduled for Sunday.

Pang pleaded not guilty in July to federal charges of evading currency reporting laws. The case had been set to go to trial next week, but was delayed until next August.

Pang, a Taiwanese immigrant, is accused of bilking investors in his $4 billion firm by falsely portraying returns as coming from investments in timeshare real estate and life insurance policies of seniors. Prosecutors said he in fact he ran a Ponzi scheme, using money raised from newer investors to pay earlier ones. Pang’s companies, Private Equity Management Group Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC, are based in Irvine, Calif.

The Securities and Exchange Commission froze Pang’s assets in April, ordered him to surrender his passports and bring back to the U.S. any assets he had sent overseas. He stepped aside as chairman and chief executive officer.

In a separate civil lawsuit, the SEC alleged Pang and his companies have been engaged in the fraudulent offering of securities for at least five years, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from investors mostly living in Taiwan. In one case, investors were presented with a forged $108 million insurance policy to support a false claim that an investment was guaranteed, while the actual insurance policy was valued at $31 million, according to the SEC.