|
Friday July 30, 04:00 AM
|
|
Galleon prosecutors have held settlement talks
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have held talks to resolve more criminal cases related to the Galleon Group hedge fund insider trading case, focusing on a ring centred on onetime Schottenfeld Group LLC trader Zvi Goffer.
In a July 13 declaration made public on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky said his office has had "conversations with counsel for individuals, including cooperating witnesses and defendants, regarding dispositions in connection with the Goffer criminal investigation."
Brodsky made the declaration to help convince a federal judge that the Justice Department has pursued its criminal investigation separately from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's own civil fraud case.
Citing the declaration, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan denied a motion by defendants to obtain material held by the SEC, in a July 27 ruling also made public on Thursday.
Cynthia Monaco, a lawyer for Goffer, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Pery Krinsky, a lawyer for co-defendant Emanuel Goffer, and Cori Browne, a lawyer for co-defendant Arthur Cutillo, declined to comment.
Lawyers for co-defendants Craig Drimal, Jason Goldfarb and Michael Kimelman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
David Plate, another former Schottenfeld trader and one of the defendants in the Goffer ring, pleaded guilty on July 16 to securities fraud and conspiracy charges, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Twenty-one defendants, including Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam, have faced criminal charges, civil charges or both in the hedge fund probe. Twelve have entered guilty pleas.
Earlier this year, Schottenfeld agreed to pay about $2 million to settle SEC cases related to the hedge fund probe.
The case is U.S. v. Goffer et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-00056.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
(For more news on Reuters India, click http://in.reuters.com)
