BREAKING -- Tom Raffanello acquitted -- by Judge

I'm told that in the middle of jury deliberations, visiting Judge Goldberg issued a judgment of acquittal for Tom Raffanello and his co-defendant. More to come.

UPDATE #1 -- Here's Curt Anderson from the AP on the case.

TRAFFIC!!!

Holy cow, was the traffic bad today or what?

The jury is out in the Tom Raffanello case. Here's a piece the Herald article explaining the closings:

While prosecutors charged Raffanello with trying to impede the government's case against the offshore banker, defense lawyers said their client never broke the law because all records in his office were stored electronically on a server.
``They were getting rid of junk,'' said defense lawyer Edward Shohat on Wednesday. ``No one tried to hide anything from anybody.''
Defense lawyers also said documents were routinely shredded at Stanford's security headquarters in Fort Lauderdale because they contained sensitive information on investors and company business partners.
Miami lawyer Richard Sharpstein slammed prosecutors, saying they never inspected the computers storing the office records. ``They didn't even look at what they have,'' he said.
Though Judge Richard W. Goldberg called the government's evidence in the case ``slim,'' he nevertheless allowed the case to go the jury.
Raffanello, wearing the pin of his former DEA agency in his lapel, was surrounded by a cadre of lawyers and former federal agents who showed up to support the veteran narcotics investigator who once led cases against Panama strongman Manuel Noriega and Medellín cartel kingpin Fabio Ochoa.
Prosecutors painted a vastly different portrait of the former lawman, saying he was corrupted by his job as security chief for one of the richest men in the world, and blatantly broke the law by destroying records -- despite a federal investigation.
Raffanello was well aware of an order from the receiver not to destroy any documents when he told Perraud to call in a shredding company, prosecutors said, adding that Raffanello was not in a position to decide which records the government should get.
``Their mantra was not to cooperate, but to frustrate,'' charged prosecutor Jack Patrick, saying Raffanello had destroyed important records and then tried ``to find a reason to justify it.''

Lots of shredding

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.

Key count kicked in case against former head of DEA

Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum recommended (in a 43-page order*) that an obstruction count be dismissed against Tom Raffanello, the former DEA chief and then head of security for Allen Stanford. The Herald has the details here:

Two months after one of Miami's most celebrated drug cops was charged in the Allen Stanford financial scandal, a federal magistrate is recommending that one of the key charges be thrown out.
Judge Robin Rosenbaum said prosecutors failed to prove Tom Raffanello -- head of security for Stanford's worldwide enterprise -- interfered with a federal investigation by ordering the destruction of reams of company documents.
The former Drug Enforcement Administration chief, who left the agency to join Stanford's security force in 2004, was charged with ordering the shredding of records just days after federal agents shut down Stanford's empire in a massive fraud case in February.
Though prosecutors said Raffanello defied a court order by destroying the documents, Rosenbaum said the government failed to show he impeded the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's probe.
The magistrate fell short of rejecting the entire case, however, saying prosecutors were able to show the former drug cop destroyed records in the course of a federal investigation. Her recommendation will be taken up by presiding Judge William Zloch later this month.

You can always count on Sharpie for a good quote:

Raffanello's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he was pleased with Rosenbaum's recommendation.
``We hope Judge Zloch not only agrees with Judge Rosenbaum, but throws out the entire case,'' he said.
Lead prosecutor Paul Pelletier could not be reached on Monday. However, prosecutors have argued in prior hearings that Raffanello and co-defendant Bruce Perraud were aware of a judge's order to preserve all company documents when they called a shredding truck to the company's Fort Lauderdale security bunker on February 25.

UPDATED -- Here's the DBR article by John Pacenti.

*Even though it's not 90 pages, Judge Marcus would still be proud.

"This is probably the single most outrageous prosecution that has happened in South Florida."

That's Richard Sharpstein on the Ben Kuehne case, covered by John Pacenti here. The 11th Circuit will have oral argument this Wednesday. Judge Cooke will have Daubert hearings today and tomorrow on the government's proposed currency exchange expert.

John Pacenti also covers the Raffanello case this morning. He's the former DEA agent charged with obstruction. His lawyers had made the gutsy call to request a speedy trial, but have now dropped that motion because the government apparently gave the defense 4 million documents to review. Richard Sharpstein was added to the defense team.

I guess I should have titled the post: Sharpstein and Pacenti.

"Miami's ex-DEA chief charged with shredding documents for disgraced banker Allen Stanford"

That's the headline from this Miami Herald article about Tom Raffanello, who was Stanford's security chief after leaving the DEA five years ago. The superceding indictment, which added Raffanello, was filed today. Interestingly, the co-defendant's case is set for trial September 18. Raffanello's lawyer Kendall Coffee filed a speedy trial demand today when the superceding indictment was filed saying that he is prepared to try the case with the co-defendant on September 18 even though the indictment was only issued today. The pleading says that the "unusual case" is "a serious mistake" and that Raffanello was simply throwing out the garbage and was not at all obstructing justice. He claims that all of the paper documents that were shredded have electronic backups which were maintained and that there is absolutely no motive or reason that he would shred documents to obstruct an investigation. From the Herald:

The 61-year-old former DEA chief said he was prepared to turn himself over to federal agents Friday on charges of conspiracy and obstruction.
``No one is sorrier than me that it came to this -- after spending 32 ½ years working for the government,'' he told The Miami Herald. ``But I'm prepared to fight this. I still believe in the system.''

This should be an interesting one. The case is assigned to Judge Zloch.