Fallen star

Dana Giacchetto, a money manager who numbered such luminaries as Leonardo DiCaprio, star of the film “Titanic”, and Courtney Cox Arquette of the hugely popular American soap “Friends”, among his clients and confidants, has been charged with defrauding celebrities out of millions of dollars. SEC investigators claim that Mr Giacchetto diverted more than UK£13 million from client accounts and stole almost UK£4 million. They allege that he used money in one account to recompense another client whose funds he had misappropriated. Phish, the rock group, successfully sued him last year after he took UK£3 million from their brokerage accounts without permission. The court papers cite a whole host of glitterati, including A-list actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who have suffered misuse of funds but it is not known whether any of them have been repaid.