Florida Private Equity Fund Chief Gets Eight Years for Loan Scam

The head of a Florida private equity fund will spend more than eight years in federal prison for falsifying documents and posing as officers of a university endowment fund to secure more than $130 million in loans.

Elliot Smerling, 53, was sentenced to 97 months Friday by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan. Smerling, who was arrested last year, pleaded guilty in February to bank fraud and securities fraud, admitting he obtained loans from Silicon Valley Bank and Citizens Bank using misrepresentations and phony documents, including a forged audit letter, fraudulent subscription agreements and bank records.

The Lake Worth, ...