That was Bill Barzee today in the big insider trading case in the SDNY immediately after the government rested. From Reuters:
A former Galleon Group hedge fund trader did not put on a defense at his insider trading trial, and the judge said the jury will hear closing arguments in the case on Wednesday.
A defense attorney for 34-year-old Zvi Goffer, who once worked at Raj Rajaratnam's Galleon Group and two other trading firms, told the Manhattan federal court judge on Tuesday he would not present evidence or call witnesses to defend his client.
***
The trial is in its third week. It started days after a jury in the same courthouse convicted Rajaratnam of 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud in the biggest Wall Street insider trading trial in years.
Go Heat and Go Bill Barzee!
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
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Four Rothstein associates charged
They are: Howard Kusnick (a lawyer), Stephen Caputi (IT department), William Corte (IT department), and Curtis Renie (person who posed as a plaintiff in fake cases). They are all charged by information, so it appears that they have cut deals and are cooperating.
They drew Judges Marra (Kusnick), Dimitroleas (the two IT guys), and Zloch (Renie).
From the USAO press release:
The Information against Howard Kusnick alleges that, while an attorney at RRA, Kusnick engaged in a scheme to defraud two clients of RRA by authoring a letter purporting to settle pending litigation in the clients’ favor. In fact, however, no such litigation had been instituted and no such settlement existed. Rather, the purpose of the letter was to lull the clients into believing that RRA was pursuing litigation on their behalf when, in fact, the clients’ funds had been used to pay off earlier investors and to further the investment fraud scheme.
The Information against Stephen Caputi alleges that Caputi at times acted as both a purported banker and plaintiff during meetings with potential investors. For example, the Information alleges that Caputi, posing as an official from TD Bank, provided investors with fraudulent bank statements that reflected purported balances of trust accounts at TD Bank. In this way, Caputi lulled the investors into believing that the account balances were sufficient to fund their investments. On another occasion, Caputi posed as a plaintiff during a meeting with potential investors who had requested to meet with plaintiffs. Caputi pretended to be a plaintiff who had purportedly executed a $10,000,000 settlement agreement, thus raising potential investors’ confidence in the deal.
According to the Information against Curtis Renie and William Corte, these defendants worked at RRA’s IT Department as chief of information technology and as a document management specialist, respectively. Renie and Corte created a fictitious web page copying the legitimate web page of TD Bank. At Rothstein’s direction, the defendants posted false account balances on the fictitious web page to make it appear as if the accounts were well-funded. On one occasion, the defendants modified the phony TD Bank web site to reflect that RRA held between $300 million and $1.1 billion on deposit at TD Bank. In fact, however, no such funds were in the accounts. The false account balances were shown to investors to induce them to invest into the fraudulent investment scheme.
They drew Judges Marra (Kusnick), Dimitroleas (the two IT guys), and Zloch (Renie).
From the USAO press release:
The Information against Howard Kusnick alleges that, while an attorney at RRA, Kusnick engaged in a scheme to defraud two clients of RRA by authoring a letter purporting to settle pending litigation in the clients’ favor. In fact, however, no such litigation had been instituted and no such settlement existed. Rather, the purpose of the letter was to lull the clients into believing that RRA was pursuing litigation on their behalf when, in fact, the clients’ funds had been used to pay off earlier investors and to further the investment fraud scheme.
The Information against Stephen Caputi alleges that Caputi at times acted as both a purported banker and plaintiff during meetings with potential investors. For example, the Information alleges that Caputi, posing as an official from TD Bank, provided investors with fraudulent bank statements that reflected purported balances of trust accounts at TD Bank. In this way, Caputi lulled the investors into believing that the account balances were sufficient to fund their investments. On another occasion, Caputi posed as a plaintiff during a meeting with potential investors who had requested to meet with plaintiffs. Caputi pretended to be a plaintiff who had purportedly executed a $10,000,000 settlement agreement, thus raising potential investors’ confidence in the deal.
According to the Information against Curtis Renie and William Corte, these defendants worked at RRA’s IT Department as chief of information technology and as a document management specialist, respectively. Renie and Corte created a fictitious web page copying the legitimate web page of TD Bank. At Rothstein’s direction, the defendants posted false account balances on the fictitious web page to make it appear as if the accounts were well-funded. On one occasion, the defendants modified the phony TD Bank web site to reflect that RRA held between $300 million and $1.1 billion on deposit at TD Bank. In fact, however, no such funds were in the accounts. The false account balances were shown to investors to induce them to invest into the fraudulent investment scheme.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Finale week
American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Oprah...
Oh, you came here for law stuff. Fine:
1. Judge Dubina's daughter doesn't like the health care law. Here is Martha Dubina Roby's Facebook page. She is a freshman congresswoman from Alabama. Oral argument is in Atlanta on June 8, and the panel is Judges Dubina, Marcus and Hull.
2. Goodwin Liu has given up his bid to be on the 9th Circuit. The Senate should be ashamed.
3. Alan Mendelsohn wants a short sentence.
4. The 11th Circuit debates what "he" means in a prosecutor's closing argument. From Judge Wilson's dissent:
Attempting to bolster the credibility of Mark Duke’s cooperating codefendant, the prosecutor argued the following to the jury:
[Duke’s co-defendant] told the truth, ladies and gentlemen,
and here is how we know it, there’s a witness that you
heard from but he didn’t come in here and talk to you from
this witness stand. After he shot, stabbed, and cut the throat
of Randy Duke, he took Randy Duke’s blood with him
throughout that house.
In doing so, the prosecutor impermissibly commented on Duke’s decision not to testify, in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The majority is willing to accept the State’s explanation that the “he” the prosecutor was referring to was not really Mark Duke but was Randy Duke’s “blood.” It is willing to accept that the “blood” is a male “witness” that the jury “heard from.” It is willing to accept that the prosecutor used “2 he” in one sentence to refer to blood and “he” in the next sentence to refer to Mark Duke, without ever indicating any possible change of subject. This makes no sense because it would mean that Randy Duke’s blood “shot, stabbed, and cut the throat of Randy Duke” and that Randy Duke’s blood took itself “throughout the house.” The majority accepts this story even though the State could not consistently or coherently articulate such an argument in the moments after the comment was made, and despite the fact that the prosecutor who spoke it did not dispute that he was referring to Duke. I respectfully part company with my colleagues in accepting this logic.
I do not see how the jury could have possibly interpreted this statement as anything but a comment on Mark Duke’s failure to testify. Accordingly, I dissent.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
News & Notes
1. Jeff Weiner has a new book. Check out this very useful resource -- Federal Criminal Rules & Codes plus. It's got everything a federal criminal lawyers needs in one handy place.
2. John Edwards may get charged. Amazing to me that we are wasting our scarce prosecutorial resources going after Edwards for being a scumbag.
3. Jared Loughner is incompetent. The arrest photo made that pretty clear, no?
4. How Appealing has this info about the panel for Obamacare:
An anonymous source reports that the three-judge panel will consist of Chief Judge Joel F. Dubina and Circuit Judges Frank M. Hull and Stanley Marcus.
Judges Hull and Marcus were both appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by President Clinton. Chief Judge Dubina was appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by the first President Bush. And don't let the fact that all three judges have seemingly male first names fool you, because Judge Hull is female.
2. John Edwards may get charged. Amazing to me that we are wasting our scarce prosecutorial resources going after Edwards for being a scumbag.
3. Jared Loughner is incompetent. The arrest photo made that pretty clear, no?
4. How Appealing has this info about the panel for Obamacare:
An anonymous source reports that the three-judge panel will consist of Chief Judge Joel F. Dubina and Circuit Judges Frank M. Hull and Stanley Marcus.
Judges Hull and Marcus were both appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by President Clinton. Chief Judge Dubina was appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by the first President Bush. And don't let the fact that all three judges have seemingly male first names fool you, because Judge Hull is female.
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