Alberto W. Vilar, a New York City financier and patron of the arts, has been arrested on charges of defrauding a client of $5 million to make good on charitable pledges to the Metropolitan Opera and other arts organizations, the New York Times reports.

Over the past several decades, Vilar, a high-profile technology investor whose fortunes have tracked the ups and downs of the sector, pledged $225 million to various arts organizations and universities, but was only able to come through with about half that amount. Even so, he basked in the publicity and public recognition his philanthropy generated and was not shy about attaching his name to his good deeds — whether it was the Vilar Grand Tier at the Metropolitan Opera, the Vilar young artists program at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, or the Vilar Center for the Arts in Avon, Colorado. "He was not, how shall I say, quiet, about his giving," said Beverly Sills, the world-renowned soprano and former chairwoman of the Met. "I think that was a turnoff for other members of the board."

When technology stocks crashed in 2000 and 2001, Vilar's investments took a tumble. The technology fund he controlled fell 64.8 percent in 2000, and declined an additional 50 percent and 31 percent in the next two years. Vilar subsequently failed to make good on a five-year, $20 million pledge to the Met and was also said to have been unable fulfill $2 million pledges to opera companies in Washington and Los Angeles, as well as a pledge to the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

At a hearing on Friday, a federal prosecutor said the government suspected that the alleged fraud was "just the tip of the iceberg." Vilar, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge and was unable to raise the $10 million bail, is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, the Met has removed his name from the wall of the Grand Tier, and next month, when his term expires, will not invite him to stay on the board — a decision it reached before his legal troubles became known.

Still, some in New York philanthropic circles have spoken up in Vilar's defense, saying his generosity was genuine, if not always grounded in reality. "I think the institutions treated him terribly," said Donald Trump, who battled Vilar in court over the developer's plans to build a ninety-story tower across the street from Vilar's 11,000-square-foot apartment at United Nations Plaza. "Here's a guy who gave millions and pledged more, and they came after him rather than let him get back on his feet."

And Vilar himself, in a March interview, told the Times that the Met had been unfairly impatient with him. "I had a record," he said. "How about reverse philanthropy?"