- Bear Managers’ Acquittal May Hamper U.S. Fraud Prosecutions
- Bear Juror Says U.S. Case So Weak She’d Invest With Defendants
- E-mail strategy fails in Bear hedge fund case
- Bear Stearns Case Shows E-mail Isn’t Everything: Ann Woolner
Bear Managers’ Acquittal May Hamper U.S. Fraud Prosecutions – Bloomberg
The acquittal of two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge-fund managers in a subprime-mortgage fraud case that relied heavily on e-mail evidence may make it more difficult for the government to win related cases based on similar facts.
The loss in the face of allegedly incriminating communications between Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin may prompt prosecutors and regulators to be less aggressive in cases stemming from the handling of subprime investments, as well as hedge fund cases such as those related to Galleon Group, former prosecutors and defense lawyers said. The verdict, returned in nine hours after a monthlong trial, may provide prosecutors of Galleon co-founder Raj Rajaratnam and his alleged confederates with a cautionary lesson, said attorney Bradley Simon…..
Bear Juror Says U.S. Case So Weak She’d Invest With Defendants – Bloomberg
Prosecutors missed the mark so widely in the fraud trial of Bear Stearns Cos. hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin that a juror said after their acquittal she would invest with them if she had the money.
The panel of eight women and four men who spent the past month hearing testimony in the case took only nine hours to find them not guilty on all six counts. During interviews after the verdict yesterday, several jurors said the government failed to prove the defendants defrauded investors who lost $1.6 billion in the two hedge funds run by the men — both of which were mostly made up of subprime mortgage-backed securities……
E-mail strategy fails in Bear hedge fund case – Financial Times
Prosecutors had hoped that a string of e-mails exchanged in 2007 between Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, the former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers acquitted of fraud on Tuesday, would present a convincing case that the two men had lied to investors.
The e-mail traffic concerned the subprime mortgage market, which would help bring down the funds they worked for – as well as Bear Stearns itself……
Bear Stearns Case Shows E-mail Isn’t Everything: Ann Woolner – Bloomberg
…..They didn’t go for the government’s claim that Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were telling investors one rosy thing about their funds and e-mailing each other the truth: That the funds were doomed. Investors lost $1.6 billion. Yesterday a jury found the pair not guilty of fraud and conspiracy.
As rich a vein as e-mail offers prosecutors, it isn’t everything, not even in these angry times. Cyber messages tapped out so candidly, that looked so incriminating when disclosed in an indictment, looked grayer when offered in full and in context with other messages.
“The e-mails went both ways,” the forewoman, Jenny McCaughey, said afterwards…..
Tags: Bear Stearns, Email, Galleon, Hedge funds, Legal, Meltdown
