Reply #12: National Century trial Columbus Ohio - convicted executive wants new trial

[DemReadingDU]

4/30/08 New evidence should lead to new trial, convicted National Century exec says

A Columbus-area executive convicted of involvement in an alleged $3 billion fraud is asking he get set free or at least be given a new trial based on evidence he says federal prosecutors withheld.

James Dierker, a former marketing executive found guilty of wire fraud in March, filed a motion Tuesday for acquittal and new trial based on what he says is newly discovered evidence.

The 40-year-old Dierker and four others were found guilty in March on charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering for their roles in a fraud that plunged Dublin-based National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. into bankruptcy, resulting in as much as $3 billion in missing investor funds.

Dierker denied the charges and testified in trial that he knew nothing of any fraud. He is currently under house arrest and faces up to 65 years in prison.

In his latest court filing, Dierker alleges the U.S. government withheld Securities and Exchange Commission documents from his attorneys that would have bolstered his defense.

The motion alleges the SEC discovered that National Century's auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, and its predecessor Coopers & Lybrand LLP, failed to conduct a 1998 audit of National Century's books according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.

The filing goes on to allege the SEC found that auditing firm Deloitte & Touche, the successor to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, failed to properly evaluate financial red flags in National Century's 1999 books.

Believing the opinions of outside auditors, Dierker thought National Century operated above board, the motion says.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Squires declined to comment on the motion. The government has 20 days from the date of Dierker's motion to file a response.

National Century was once the nation's largest financier of health-care providers. It specialized in buying their receivables at a discount for quick cash, then packaging the receivables as asset-backed bonds to sell to investors.

National Century collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002, forcing other medical businesses to fail and prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to begin looking into the company's failure.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/04/28/daily23.html


link backwards to previous articles...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3281287&mesg_id=3281326