Topic: Gary Tanaka

Gary A. Tanaka (born June 23, 1943, in Hunt, Idaho) is a Japanese-American businessman who co-founded the investment company Amerindo Investments in 1979 along with Alberto Vilar. Tanaka was born during World War II in the Minidoka re-location camp in Idaho. He graduated from MIT, then earned a PhD degree at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom with a dissertation on the mathematics of the transition from laminar to turbulent flow in a fluid flowing over a solid surface. He lives in London with wife Renata and children Janeczka and Alex in a house which was once Dwight D. Eisenhower's wartime headquarters.

Tanaka is perhaps best known for his donation of £27m to Imperial College, which resulted in construction of the Tanaka Building in 2004, designed by the international architecture, planning and design studio Foster and Partners. The building houses Imperial College Business School, and combines the business school's facilities with a new front entrance for the College.

Tanaka was tried in 2008 in New York for a $20m fraud against customers of the Amerindo investment company he ran with Alberto Vilar. On 19th November 2008 was found guilty on three charges: conspiracy, securities fraud and investment adviser fraud . He has yet to be sentenced.