Sentencing delayed for Roslyn Ponzi schemer

It was a dreary day for the victims of Roslyn-based investment adviser Edward T. Stein Wednesday - and not just because of the weather.

Sentencing of the former hedge-fund manager, who pleaded guilty in June to running an 11-year, $30-million Ponzi scheme and stealing more than $6.5 million from one investor, was adjourned until Feb. 8. Stein remains free, with a restriction on travel, on $2 million bail.

Stein, 59, who ran Edward T. Stein Associates Ltd. in Roslyn, was to be sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn on securities and wire fraud charges. He faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

But according to an administrator in the chambers of presiding Judge Jack Weinstein, the sentencing was adjourned because one of the parties was not ready to proceed.

In addition to the criminal complaint, Stein faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil action in Manhattan that alleges he moved more than $55 million of investors' money through accounts he controlled, fleecing 83 people.

The SEC suit claims that Stein began his scheme in 1992 and paid off selected investors, funded a failing fashion magazine endeavor and bought a condominium in Manhattan.

Part of Stein's plea deal in the criminal case requires him to cooperate in locating and turning over all of his assets in the SEC civil trial.