Staff Writer The 22-year-old New York University student charged with trying to swindle $43 million from banks in Greenwich and Switzerland and operating a hedge fund scam in town has fired his attorney.
According to court records, Hakan Yalincak, of Pound Ridge, N.Y., has hired Bernard Grossberg, a Boston attorney, to replace Bridgeport- and Greenwich-based attorney Eugene Riccio.
"It was creative differences, as they say in Hollywood," Riccio said on the split. "Good luck to the next guy."
Grossberg could not be reached for comment.
Early this month Riccio was granted an extension until Jan. 3 to continue to negotiate a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Yalincak faces one count of bank fraud for unsuccessfully trying to cash a $25 million check at the Greenwich branch of the Bank of New York, and two checks worth $20.4 million with UBS Zurich AG in Switzer-
land, according to his indictment.
In a separate case, Yalincak is charged along with his mother, Ayferafet Yalincak, in connection with running a phony hedge fund operating out of an office at 283 Greenwich Ave. that swindled investors in Greenwich and Chicago out of $2.8 million.
In that case, Hakan and Ayferafet Yalincak face charges of using false bank statements to convince concerned investors their money was earning high returns, according to the indictment.
Investors failed to detect that Yalincak was already being sued by the Bank of America NA for more than $94,000 in credit card debt when he rented an office on Greenwich Avenue from Greenwich restaurateur and movie producer Paul Ardaji last summer.
Hakan Yalincak claimed to be related to Turkish royalty and said his business, Yasam Trading, was connected with Istanbul-based financial conglomerate Dogus Group Holdings, according to Ardaji.
Court records say Yalincak used the alias John Sahenk on financial documents, a reference to billionaire Ferit Sahenk, a member of the Turkish royal family who controls the $2.5 billion Dogus Holding Co.
Jeremiah Donovan, Ayferafet Yalincak's Old Saybrook attorney, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
This summer, another attorney representing Hakan Yalincak quit when Ayferafet Yalincak wrote him a check and stopped payment on it before he could cash it, the attorney said.
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