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A luxury condo on the Upper East Side is among the assets federal prosecutors are seizing from a former investment firm employee accused of defrauding his company out of tens of millions of dollars.
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Jian Wu, a 34-year-old former quant at a Manhattan-based algorithmic trading firm, is facing federal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Prosecutors say Wu secretly manipulated data models to secure an inflated year-end bonus of approximately $23 million—and used some of that money to buy a multimillion-dollar apartment at 200 East 95th Street (h/t Our Town).Wu is currently a fugitive, and the case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which announced the indictment earlier this month.
According to prosecutors, Wu covertly altered the parameters of trading models after they were approved and released, misleading his employer about their performance. The firm, which has not been publicly named, rewarded him with a massive bonus based on the models’ apparent success.
Federal officials allege Wu later made additional unauthorized changes in an attempt to cover his tracks after the firm began to suspect something was amiss. He was fired earlier this year.
One of the assets Wu is now being forced to forfeit is Apartment 9A at 200 East 95th Street, a luxury condo located within The Kent, a high-end glass tower on the corner of Third Avenue. The apartment was most recently listed for rent in July 2024 for $28,000 per month, according to StreetEasy. It was offered fully furnished with everything from a “Hermes coffee table to B&B Italia sofa to Minotti dining table to Poliform custom closets,” according to the listing description.
The indictment, filed in Manhattan federal court, claims that Wu “used a portion of his compensation to purchase a multimillion-dollar apartment in Manhattan,” specifically citing the Upper East Side condo as property connected to the fraud.
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In a statement, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Wu “deceived his employer… into paying him millions of dollars of unearned compensation,” using his technical expertise to manipulate internal systems. “This Office will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate, detect, and prosecute fraud in the securities markets wherever we find it.”Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI New York Office, Christopher G. Raia, added that Wu “betrayed the trust of his employer who relied on his expertise.”
Wu faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted on all counts. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also launched a parallel civil case.
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