SEC defendant Khan drops VGTel appeal

by Mike Caswell

Abida Khan, a California investment adviser serving four years in jail for her part in a scheme run by Vancouver-linked fraudster Ed Durante, has suddenly dropped her appeal. A jury previously convicted her for placing clients of her advisory firm into Mr. Durante's fraud. Her clients, mostly widows and retirees, bought at least $5-million worth of stock in VGTel Inc., a company that was ultimately worthless. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

Ms. Khan, 54, dropped her appeal without giving any reason. An e-mail to her lawyer simply states, "I seek to withdraw and voluntarily dismiss my appeal in this matter." Whatever her reason, she said that her lawyer had fully explained the consequences of dropping the appeal to her (the most obvious of which is remaining in jail until her June 16, 2021, release date).

Prosecutors in New York had claimed that Ms. Khan moved clients of her advisory firm from safe investments into Mr. Durante's fraud while she collected $447,000 from Mr. Durante. Her clients were people who trusted her to manage what had been portfolios of conservatives investments. At Mr. Durante's direction, she advised her clients to sell annuities, often incurring penalties, and then solicited them to buy VGTel. She also invited Mr. Durante to make presentations to the clients. At those presentations, Mr. Durante used the alias Ted Wise and told clients that VGTel would be a profitable investment. Ms. Khan vouched for his predictions.

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