Son pleads 'not guilty' to murdering his hedge fund manager father

Thomas S. Gilbert Jr. pleaded "not guilty" in the murder of his hedge fund manager father before a a grand jury in New York on Thursday.

Gilbert Jr. was indicted on Thursday in New York State Supreme Court with murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, among other charges, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a release.

Back in January, the 30-year-old socialite was arrested and charged with the fatal shooting of his father, Thomas S. Gilbert Sr.

On Jan. 4, the elder Gilbert was found dead with a gun wound to the head at his apartment at 20 Beekman Place in Manhattan's Upper East Side about 3:30 p.m.

Police told Business Insider at the time there was allegedly an "argument over money." ABC News reported that investigators said that the father had discussed no longer paying his son's rent and reducing his weekly allowance. The New York Post reported it was over a $200 cut in his monthly allowance.

The younger Gilbert went to his parents' apartment on Jan. 4. According to police, Gilbert asked his mother, Shelley, to go out and get him a sandwich. When she returned, she found her husband dead and her son gone.

A .40 caliber Glock handgun was found on the elder Gilbert's chest, according to the complaint. Police believe that the younger Gilbert staged the scene to look like a suicide, according to the indictment.

The younger Gilbert was the only other person in the apartment at the time, police told Business Insider. He allegedly fled the scene on foot. The next day he was taken into custody after being confronted at his Chelsea apartment on West 18th Street.

According to the indictment, police recovered four loose rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, a magazine for the .40 caliber and another loaded firearm from Gilbert Jr.'s Chelsea apartment. Police also found a skimmer device and more than 20 blank credit cards in the younger Gilbert's apartment, the complaint said.

The elder Gilbert was the founder of long-short equity hedge fund Wainscott Capital Partners. Gilbert, who had more than 40 years of experience on Wall Street, opened the fund in 2011.

Thomas Gilbert Jr. attended elite private schools - The Buckley School and Deerfield Academy. He later graduated from Princeton University.

He seems to have recently tried to launch his own hedge fund, Mameluke Capital Fund LP, according to an SEC form D filed in 2014.