NY Bail Hearing Today on Scam Case Figure

He and three associates in an alleged $214 million investment fund fraud were arrested June 8 for specifically stealing $27.7 million from that fund. None of the money has been recovered.

Federal prosecutors in Orlando call Evergreen the biggest Ponzi scheme in Florida's 182-year-old history. Two thousand global investors were bilked in the scam which operated from an inconspicuous 3,000-sf Downtown office in a class B building.

Arrested with Zylka, 65, were James P. Conroy, 61, a Newark, NJ lawyer who allegedly crafted the fund; and Martin W. Boelens Jr., 44, an Orlando lawyer who owned the management company that allegedly ran Evergreen for Zylka and his associates.

The defendants in New York State Supreme Court were each charged with two counts of grand larceny, specifically stealing $22.7 million from Evergreen between March 1, 2000 and June 26, 2000. Zylka and Conroy were also charged with stealing $5 million from Evergreen in 1999.

Conroy separately was also charged with two counts of tampering with evidence to be used by federal prosecutors. Conroy allegedly drafted phony documents between January and March 2001, and drew up a promissory note for $500,000 signed by Zylka and dated July 31, 2000.

A New York federal grand jury June 8 handed down a six-count indictment against Zylka, alleging his scamming career covered 20 years, beginning in January 1981. Zylka has denied the charges and promised the 2,000 investors would be repaid at an unspecified date.

The Evergreen case began unraveling in January after the company voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The company listed liabilities of $214 million and cash assets of $10 million.

Judge Arthur B. Briskman is handling the pending bankruptcy proceedings in Orlando. Evergreen was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.