The first Allen Stanford trial is underway. From the South Florida Business Journal:
Jury selection is under way this morning in the case against two South Florida men charged with shredding evidence in the case of R. Allen Stanford.
Former Stanford security personnel Bruce Perraud and Thomas Raffanello are the first to go to trial in Miami federal court in what federal prosecutors have alleged is a $7 billion Ponzi scheme led by Stanford and run through his Antigua-based bank.
Perraud, a global security specialist in the Fort Lauderdale office of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, allegedly oversaw the shredding of documents at a warehouse facility last February. He was indicted in June.
Raffanello, who once led the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami office, worked as a security director for Stanford and is the husband of well-known defense attorney Susan Raffanello, of the Coffey Burlington law firm in Miami.
Interestingly, the case is being tried before visiting judge Richard Goldberg, who told jurors that the trial would last about two weeks.
The first witness testified today that in February 2009, there was more shredding than in any other month. Here's the AP on the first witness.
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
5 comments:
F'ing cops...I wonder if the DEA is proud
I've tried a 148 jury trials. I've never seen a Ms. Raffanelo in court. I guess she doesn't get out to Hialeah Branch court much.
Too bad he wasn't still with the dea, then they would have given him an award for instituting and efficient document "control" system.
I have tried over 500 jury trials. Never heard of saw the "well known" defenseattorney before. coffy has never tried a jury trial either, however he has a great bite.
That's really interesting with February being more shredding. Thanks for sharing.
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