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* K1 founder Helmut Kiener, accomplice, charged
* More than $300 mln said to be lost
By Jonathan Stempel
Feb 7 (Reuters) - A German hedge fund founder convicted inhis home country of running a Ponzi scheme faces U.S. chargesalong with an accomplice over frauds that cost investors morethan $300 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said onThursday.
K1 Group founder Helmut Kiener, a 53-year-old trainedpsychologist, was indicted on six counts of wire and bank fraudand three counts of money laundering over alleged schemes todefraud Bear Stearns Cos, Barclays Plc and BNP ParibasSA.
Co-defendant John Tausche, a 61-year-old resident of BlowingRock, North Carolina, was charged with one count each of bankfraud and money laundering, prosecutors said.
Dubbed a "mini-Madoff" by international press in referenceto swindler Bernard Madoff, Kiener was sentenced in July 2011 to10-2/3 years in prison by a German court after confessing to afraud that prosecutors said cost investors 345 million euros(US$462 million).
It is unclear whether Kiener has hired a lawyer to defendagainst the U.S. charges, which were announced by U.S. AttorneyZane Memeger in Philadelphia.
Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for Memeger, said he plans toseek the extradition of Kiener to face the U.S. charges, but notimetable has been set.
Joseph Grimes, a lawyer for Tausche, said in a telephoneinterview that his client is "cooperating with authorities inthis investigation and trying to do everything to make thisright." Court papers for Tausche were not immediately available.
Memeger said that between 2005 and 2008, Bear Stearns lost$82 million as Kiener funneled its money from K1 throughTausche's Oceanus offshore hedge funds and back to K1, creatinga false appearance that K1 funds were gaining in value.
Prosecutors also said Kiener from 2007 to 2009 fraudulentlyinduced Bear, Barclays and BNP Paribas to invest more than $100million in two offshore funds he claimed were legitimate.
Instead, prosecutors said Kiener diverted the money for suchthings as a $37.1 million Bombardier jet, a $21 million Floridaoceanfront property, a helicopter, two boats and luxury carsincluding a Bentley, a Maybach and a Mercedes.
Tausche was accused of running a scheme involving K1 andOceanus that cost Barclays $137 million.
Kiener faces up to 200 years in prison and a $7.94 millionfine, and Tausche up to 40 years in prison and a $1.97 millionfind, if convicted on all U.S. charges.
Some investors who lost money with Kiener have in recentmonths sued Barclays in Europe for about 100 million euros ($134million) for selling his products to them. Barclays has said theclaims have no merit.
Kiener's prison sentence in Germany was based on 10 countsof fraud and tax evasion and 86 counts of falsifying documents.
"I am paying for being able to leave hell and return topurgatory," he said at the time.
JPMorgan Chase & Co bought Bear in 2008.
The Kiener case is U.S. v. Kiener, U.S. District Court,Eastern District of Philadelphia, No. 13-cr-00062.
