Not sure if this one is already on this board.
Sometimes a reporter will file a same story more than once in a day. Each copy will be slightly different with the second copy containing a bit more information that the first.
Govt Continues Questioning Of Elgindy Defense Witness
12-15-04 03:31 PM EST NEW YORK (Dow Jones)
--Prosecutor Kenneth Breen continued his cross-examination of Peter Michaelson Wednesday morning in the government's case against short seller Anthony Elgindy.
Elgindy and former Federal Bureau of Investigation Jeffrey Royer are charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with securities fraud, market manipulation and extortion.Michaelson, a former member of Elgindy's private investment Web site, was called to testify for the defense earlier this week.
Michaelson testified for the defense that he never thought that anything illegal was taking place when confidential government information was shared by members of the Web site. Prosecutors allege that Elgindy and others received confidential information from Royer and illegally profited from it. The government claims that Elgindy and others used his private investment site called Anthonypacific.com to share confidential information.
Under cross-examination by Breen, Michaelson said Wednesday that he thought that if government information was shared on the Elgindy site, it must have been okay. Asked whether he thought that Elgindy was credible when he posted information that he said came from the FBI. "Not all the time... He lied all the time, exaggerated to make himself look good,"Michaelson answered.
Michaelson had testified Tuesday that he had no reasons to believe that Elgindy was not being truthful when he said he had confidential information. Asked about his different answer, Michaelson said "Yesterday, I don't know what I said yesterday. I was really tired.""Are you saying that we should disregard your testimony (from Tuesday)?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Breen asked Michaelson, who answered, "I rather you would."
Reviewing his trading records, including some from an account at Canadian brokerage firm Union Securities, Michaelson said he did trade in the stock of companies for which Elgindy provided confidential information on the same days that the information was posted on the investing site. Under questioning, Michaelson also said that he purchased some of the shares of a block trade put together by Elgindy in the stock of Nuclear Solutions Inc. (NSOL). Prosecutors allege that Elgindy and others charged in the case extorted discounted stock from companies they targeted in exchange for halting their short selling of their shares. Nuclear Solutions is one of two companies that the government said was extorted by Elgindy and others charged in the case.
Michaelson is scheduled to resume his testimony after the lunch recess.
-By Carol S. Remond, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2074; carol.remond@ dowjones.com Dow Jones Newswires 12-15-04 1531ET |
