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from www.nypost.com – This summer’s blockbuster Wall Street criminal trial has nothing to do with insider trading or hedge funds. It will instead shine light on an alleged international boiler- room operation that stole $140 million from unsuspecting investors and charges that the two main characters in the purported scam spent the proceeds on prostitutes, strip clubs, private jets and expensive watches.
Ross Mandell, former CEO of Sky Capital, is at the center of the case. He is charged with having his brokers pressure clients into buying shares of companies or having them use client funds to buy shares without their consent or refusing to sell the shares upon request, according to the indictment.
But the charges themselves might be the least scintillating part of the expected five-week trial.
Mandell, 54, who will be on trial alongside former Sky Capital broker Adam Harrington, is accused of lavishing incentives on his brokers to pump the shares, including trips to strip clubs — and then used the proceeds to enrich himself, including $50,000 in watches and $2,728 for a home theater.
Mandell, who likens himself to Gordon Gekko on his Web site Rossmandell.com, and describes himself as “one of the bad boys of Wall Street,” has been anything but a typical defendant awaiting trial.
He has vehemently denied the charges since his July 2009 arrest, holding interviews with the media, posting videos on YouTube to proclaim his innocence and even promoting a reality TV show based on his life.
The pitch for his TV show, named “Facing Life,” opens with Mandell, who is facing up to 25 years in prison, describing his “perfect life,” including money, “a gorgeous wife” and plans to launch a martial arts franchise.
“I’ve just got one small problem,” the white-haired, stocky Mandell tells the camera to a dramatic change in the background music. “I’ve been indicted by the US government for conspiracy and securities fraud.”
Last week, Mandell’s legal eagle, Jeffrey Hoffman, asked to toss evidence of the strip clubs and “other adult entertainment” on the grounds it would prejudice the jury. Harrington’s lawyer, Michael Bachner, asked the judge if the government could at least just say the money was spent on dinner, or leave out the prostitutes.
Judge Paul Crotty said no to both. “If it’s prostitution, it is prostitution. If it is strip clubs and lap dancing, whatever it is, that is what I am going to allow,” he said.
The government’s witnesses — and there may be more than two dozen — will also likely be pilloried for their own colorful pasts, including several unrelated criminal arrests and an allegedly jilted investor who was a confidential informant for the FBI in a New Jersey public corruption scandal.
“One of the things we want to show is that these witnesses committed lots of wrongs, lots of crimes,” Hoffman told Crotty last week in preparation for the trial. “They did all kinds of crimes all the time.”
Opening remarks could start as early as today. [email protected]