Bradley Ruderman was charged with wire fraud.

Bradley Ruderman was charged with wire fraud. The Ruderman Capital Partners chief surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week; if convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.According to prosecutors, Ruderman lied to prospective investors, including friends and family members, to attract them to his hedge fund. And the complaint alleges the lying didn’t stop there: Ruderman lied about profits, sent bogus account statements to investors and lied about the hedge fund’s assets under management, inflating it 350-fold. Investors, however, were brought face-to-face with the stark truth last month, when they got a letter telling them that Ruderman’s two hedge funds were “nearly worthless.”The criminal complaint follows a civil complaint filed last month by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say he raised $44.3 million from 22 investors over the past eight years, and ran his scheme from 2002 until its collapse earlier this year. Ruderman allegedly told investors he was managing $206 million and reported returns of almost 60%. In fact, authorities say, he lost more than $3 million last year and began this year with just $588,246 in the funds.

Ruderman admitted that he lost some $5.2 million of investor money in clandestine poker games

, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The FBI says he also misappropriated at least $8.7 million for personal expenses, including a pair of Porsches and a summer rental in Malibu, Calif.Bradley L. Ruderman, 46, was taken into custody on Friday. Mr. Ruderman, the founder and manager of Ruderman Capital Partners, faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud.

He raised $44.3 million over the last eight years from 22 investors, mostly family members, the statement said. Mr. Ruderman sent a letter to the investors last month saying the funds were almost depleted. Mr. Ruderman spent $8.7 million of the money on personal expenses, including two Porsches and $5.2 million he lost in poker games, prosecutors said.

Mr. Ruderman’s lawyer, James Riddet, did not immediately return a call seeking comment, Bloomberg News said.The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Mr. Ruderman and obtained an emergency court order on April 29 freezing his assets. He falsely claimed that Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, and the chief executive of Oracle, Larry Ellison, were investors in his funds, the S.E.C. said.