WASHINGTON — The sentencing dates for convicted bid- riggers Brian Zwerner, Douglas Goldberg, and Daniel Naeh have been delayed again.
Former CDR Financial Products, Inc. brokers Goldberg and Naeh had their sentencing dates moved to May 8 from previous dates set in April, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. The sentencing date of former Bank of America managing director Brian Zwerner was moved to July 25 from May 2.
All three men are awaiting sentencing for their roles in a wide-ranging scheme dating back more than a decade to rig the bids for guaranteed investment contracts and other municipal products.
Naeh's attorneys said they needed the delay to address "complicated issues" regarding the government's calculations of how much financial damage Naeh's actions caused issuers. Justice Department lawyers presented the defense team with 34 pages of charts earlier this month which detail the government's calculations of restitution Naeh should pay. That amount could be effected by the restitution paid by CDR founder David Rubin, who was sentenced last week to pay a combined $5.6 million in fines and restitution in addition to two years of probation.
Naeh's lawyers are also awaiting a draft pre-sentencing report from a probation officer which the court could consider when imposing sentence. "We need sufficient time to respond to that draft concerning these issues and others and, of course, time to include any issues regarding calculations in our sentencing memorandum to the court," stated a letter submitted by Naeh's lawyer.
Goldberg's sentencing delays have previously caused reverberations to other trials. Former JPMorgan bankers Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, who are charged with securities fraud in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit involving Jefferson County, Ala.'s 2002 and 2003 sewer deals and related swaps, want to depose Goldberg. But the judge in that case has refused to allow it until after Goldberg's sentencing.
Zwerner's sentencing also has been delayed several times before to allow his cooperation in other cases, including the one involving former Bank of America executive Phillip Murphy. Murphy reversed his original not-guilty plea and pleaded guilty in February.
The next bid-rigger set for sentencing is ex- UBS AG banker Mark Zaino, who is currently slated to hear his fate on March 27. Michael Welty and two other former UBS bankers, Peter Ghavami and Gary Heinz, have moved for a new trial on the grounds that the government withheld evidence. In addition, former General Electric bankers Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg, and Peter Grimm were freed after an appeals court ruled the statute of limitations had run out before they were charged.
