While once-prominent lawyer Marc Dreier's "high-stakes" grifting of $100 million seems like small potatoes next to Bernard Madoff, it's still big. According to CityRoom, former stockbroker Kosta S. Kovachev was "arrested...and charged with conspiring with...Dreier to commit wire fraud by selling fake promissory notes." The complaint says that Kovachev posed as the controller of Solow Realty when meeting with a hedge fund, in Dreier's attempt to sell $115 million of promissory notes allegedly issued by Solow. Previosuly, Kovachev was named in a complaint about a $28 million Ponzi scheme in Florida. Oh, and for the record, Michael Strahan's spokesman tells us the ex-Giant is not a client of Dreier's: "Out of circumstance because he is a public figure, Mr. Strahan has many causal acquaintances -- Mr. Dreier is one of those. However, Mr. Strahan has never been a client." Strahan and Dreier did, however, have charity events together. more ›

Unsurprisingly, Marc Dreier, who has been accused of over $100 million in fraud, was denied bail yesterday. According to the NY Times, prosecutors say the once-prominent lawyer "used guile, a box of cellphones and a series of phony Web sites and e-mail addresses to steal more than $380 million." A judge agreed that Dreier is a flight risk (the feds think he has assets hidden overseas), ignoring his defense lawyer Gerald Shargel's suggestion of house arrest under two guards—and making his elderly mother and teenaged stepson responsible for $10 million bond. Shargel was also unhappy because the Yale- and Harvard Law-educated Dreier is under "24-hour lockdown until [prison officials] determine whether he's a gang member." Which means he's "being held alone in cell 24 hours a day with no telephone calls, no visitors and no reading material." more ›

More details about prominent Manhattan lawyer-slash-apparent grifter Marc Dreier (pictured with Michael Strahan and Alicia Keys at a charity event). After his arrest, it was discover that tens of millions went missing from clients' escrow accounts. According to Forbes, Dreier "even managed to transfer $10 million by telephone from escrow accounts to his personal account while sitting in a Canadian jail awaiting a bail hearing." And Dreier, the Post reports, "figur[ed] he could replace the money by selling off his firm's art collection," worth $40 million. Following his Canadian arrest and release, Dreier was arrested in NYC for an alleged $100 million fraud scheme (selling fake debt to hedge funds). His law firm is in disarray; a partner said, "The news of Mr. Dreier’s arrest has had a devastating effect. The December health insurance premium has not been paid, the firm’s December rent payment is now overdue, and AT&T will terminate BlackBerry service." More details at the Law Blog. more ›

A "high-living" and "prominent" Manhattan lawyer whose clients include Jon Bon Jovi was arrested by Canadian authorities. Marc Dreier, of Dreier LLP, was charged with impersonating "another lawyer on Tuesday at the offices of a large Canadian pension fund," according to the NY Times (which calls the arrest "bizarre"). See, Dreier went to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, claiming to be a different lawyer (even had his business card), but an OTPP employee knew the lawyer Dreier was impersonating, so the cops were called. Dreier, who has been under investigation for possible fraudulent activity, is out on bail; his lawyer said, "No money passed, no money is missing and no money was ever missing." But Dreier's 250-employee law firm is crumbling: The WSJ's Law Blog reports that the head of the bankruptcy department told client he and other bankruptcy lawyers were leaving and would start their own firm. more ›