David Levy

David Levy was Co-Chief Investment Officer of Platinum Partners L.P., a New York City-based hedge fund. Between approximately November 2011 and December 2016, Levy and Platinum's founder Mark Nordlicht orchestrated a scheme to defraud third-party bondholders of Black Elk Energy, an oil company that was one of Platinum's largest assets with $150 million in publicly traded bonds. Levy and his co-conspirators secretly purchased $98 million of those bonds on the open market and then transferred them through a series of related entities to conceal Platinum's ownership and control. They then rigged a consent solicitation vote to amend Black Elk's bond indenture so that proceeds from the sale of the company's most valuable oil fields would flow to preferred equity — held by Platinum and its insiders — rather than to the bondholders who held legal priority. After the rigged vote succeeded, the conspirators distributed millions from the asset sale to themselves and associates, with Levy receiving approximately $250,000 personally. A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York convicted Levy of securities fraud and securities fraud conspiracy in July 2019. The case had a protracted procedural history spanning several years of appeals and retrial proceedings before sentencing was finally imposed in January 2024.