WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court appears likely to hear oral arguments in the case of three convicted UBS AG bid riggers early next year, according to documents filed with the court this week.
The U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys for former UBS bankers Peter Ghavami, Michael Welty, and Gary Heinz submitted the papers to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City on Thursday. The papers list the names of the attorneys who will argue before the appeals court as well as the potential argument dates in the next two to five months that are not acceptable to each participant.
The trio of UBS AG bankers was convicted in a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan in August 2012 as part of wide-ranging enforcement actions by the Justice Department into the rigging of bids for guaranteed investment contracts and other muni products that occurred between 2001 and 2006.
The three are the last major group of bid-riggers arrested in that probe that continues to battle the government in court. General Electric bankers Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg, and Peter Grimm, also convicted for GIC bid-rigging, won their appeals in December 2013 after the court found that their convictions should have been prevented by an expired statute of limitations.
A person familiar with the case said it is not known exactly when oral argument might be, but that it probably will be some time next year. Heinz attorney Marc Mukasey, who will present oral argument, will not be available on Feb. 9, 10, or 23. Welty attorney Gregory Poe will not be available for several days in late March. U.S. government attorney Daniel Haar can't appear in court the final week of December.
The appeals court could overturn the convictions, send the case back for a new trial or other proceedings, or could reject the appeals. Only the Supreme Court could overturn the appeals court's decision. All three men filed their own appeal briefs, but have also joined each other's arguments.
