The founder of New York-based hedge fund Platinum Partners was arrested on Monday as prosecutors unveiled an indictment charging him and six others with an approximately $1 billion fraud.

Mark Nordlicht, the founder and chief investment officer of Platinum Partners, was arrested at his New Rochelle, New York, home in connection with charges contained in an indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn.

Others arrested included David Levy, Platinum Partners' co-chief investment officer, and Uri Landesman, the former president of the firm's signature fund, said Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Adrienne Senatore.

Prosecutors said Brookyln U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and Andrew Ceresney, the director of enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would announce the charges at a news conference later on Monday.

Lawyers for the defendants could not be immediately identified.

Founded in 2003, Platinum Partners until this year had more than $1.3 billion under management. It produced exceptional profits for investors, with its flagship fund generating an average return of 17 percent since it started, Reuters has reported.

But this year, a series of investigations tied to Platinum Partners came to a head, leading to a Cayman Islands court placing its two main funds into liquidation in August.