Financier in Conn. fraud ordered into custody

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Venezuelan financier awaiting sentencing in a massive Connecticut-based fraud scheme has been ordered into federal custody.

A judge has directed Francisco Illarramendi (ee'-yah-rah-MEHN'-dee) to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service in Bridgeport by 10 a.m. Friday.

Illarramendi had been under house arrest in New Canaan since pleading guilty in 2011, but the sentencing has been postponed several times as Illarramendi has changed attorneys. The detention order was handed down last week by Judge Stefan Underhill.

Illarramendi ran unregistered hedge funds out of offices in Stamford. He has pleaded guilty last year to several counts of fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Victims have been exposed to losses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Illarramendi's biggest client was a pension fund for state oil workers in the South American country.