Son Of Fund Manager Held Without Bail In Father’s Murder

The son of Wainscott Capital Management founder Thomas Gilbert Sr., who wanted to follow his dad into the money-management business, was charged with murdering him after police said he staged a shooting to look like suicide.

Thomas Gilbert Jr., 30, was brought in last night to a lower Manhattan courtroom wearing white sweat pants and a dark gray jacket. He was arrested after his mother returned to the family’s apartment on Manhattan’s east side Sunday to find her husband, Thomas Gilbert Sr., 70, lying dead in the bedroom with a bullet wound to his head, police said. A .40 caliber Glock was resting on his chest and his left hand covered the gun.

“This is a strong case,” Assistant District Attorney Craig Ascher said as Gilbert was arraigned last night. He was ordered held without bail, and may face 25 years in prison if convicted. “The defendant brazenly shot his father in the head,” Ascher told the judge.

Gilbert is also charged with two counts of illegal weapon possession and 22 counts of possession of forgery devices. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo declined to comment after the hearing. Prosecutors said Gilbert is accused of contempt in a pending case in suburban Long Island in New York.

The elder Gilbert spent decades investing in stocks, private-equity, real estate and fixed-income markets before starting his business in 2011, according to Wainscott’s website. The fund, which focuses on biotechnology and health-care investments, reported assets of $7.3 million and returns of 10.6 percent through November, according to an investor who has seen its performance and asset data and asked not to be identified because the information is private.

‘Bad Feeling’

The fatal clash began after the younger Gilbert visited his parents about 3 p.m. Sunday and asked to speak to his father alone, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at a press conference. Shelley Gilbert left the eighth-floor apartment to get food for her son but returned about 13 minutes later after “she got a bad feeling,” Boyce said.

She discovered her husband dead and her son missing.

Homicide detectives later determined by the position of the weapon that the shooting was “staged,” Boyce said. Police went to the younger Gilbert’s West 18th Street apartment and awaited his return. At around 10:30 p.m. that night, after seeing a light flick off, they entered the unit and found a “substantial amount of evidence,” Boyce said. Prosecutors said Gilbert was home when police arrived but refused to open the door.