Burrill gets 30 months in prison for fraud

A federal court sentenced G. Steven Burrill to 30 months in prison for tax evasion and defrauding investors in a scheme to siphon money from the Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund III. The U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California delivered the sentence Tuesday. Burrill is to surrender by March 4.

Burrill plead guilty to the two counts last December, each of which could have carried a maximum penalty of five years prison. Under the original indictment, which included 31 counts of fraud, Burrill had faced up to 30 years prison time and $750,000 in fines.

Under his plea deal, Burrill will pay only $200 as the court agreed to waive fines. The government has also asked the court to order Burrill to pay $5.6 million in restitution to the fund for losses incurred by his theft, and $2.9 million to the IRS for tax losses. A restitution hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2019.

In a court filing, the government said the fund had sustained $17.6 million in losses from Burrill's theft, of which it has recovered $12 million through settlements.

Burrill's sentence also includes three years supervised release.

According to the September 2017 indictment, Burrill managed Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund III Partners, comprising commitments of about $283 million, most of which was committed by limited partners. The indictment alleged that he "induced limited partners to contribute capital to the Fund with false and misleading capital call letters" and understated his income in false and fraudulent tax returns (see "Burrill Indicated for Fraud").