Re: 12/8/99 - NY judge orders Marchiano to stand trial for alleged securities fraud in Sept.
NY judge orders Marchiano to stand trial for alleged securities fraud in Sept.
Wednesday, December 8, 1999
By GINA EDWARDS, Staff Writer
MANHATTAN - A judge has set a September trial for the A.S. Goldmen & Co. stock fraud case, giving indicted Naples brokerage owner Anthony Marchiano nine more months to prepare a defense to charges that his corrupt enterprise bilked thousands of customers out of $100 million.
New York Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder on Tuesday set the Sept. 6, 2000, trial and urged prosecutors and defense attorneys to cooperate in exchanging stacks of discovery evidence in the complex organized crime case.
The execution-style killing of a former Goldmen employee and another man last month in New Jersey - and a defense move to name a suspected confidential informant in court papers - prompted Snyder to seal all documents in the case until she reviews them.
Records now show that Snyder in October acknowledged the A.S. Goldmen case is tinged with mob overtones. It was the first such public acknowledgment by a court official, though Marchiano's attorney has characterized his client as a victim of mob extortion.
"Everyone has made statements about this being a mob case. I don't know whether that will ever be proven or is relevant," Snyder said in a written transcript obtained by the Naples Daily News. "Then we have an execution mob-style killings of two people, which may or may not be connected to this case, but certainly there is a connection to Goldmen."
Snyder said Tuesday she must take the extraordinary step of sealing document submittals and reviewing them before public disclosure because of the potential for "real danger" for the witnesses and informants.
In July, a Manhattan grand jury indicted A.S. Goldmen owner Marchiano and 32 others - including his wife, Maria, and twin brother, Salvatore, - on a range of securities fraud crimes. Prosecutors say the brokerage cheated thousands of investors out of nearly $100 million over six years.
Prosecutors say Marchiano ran a boiler-room operation in Naples where brokers spent hours on the phone hyping stocks. At various times, the defunct firm also had offices in New York and New Jersey. The Goldmen criminal enterprise is accused of manipulating the stocks of 10 small companies, among them two companies tied to the defunct Stadium Naples golf arena project.
If convicted on the most serious charges, Naples resident Marchiano could face up to 25 years in prison. Marchiano and the firm deny wrongdoing.
Outside the Manhattan courtroom Tuesday, security officers scanned defendants, attorneys and citizens with a metal detection wand. In New York, Snyder is well-known for handling sensitive organized crime and drug-gang cases. Such security is standard procedure for entry to her cavernous wood-paneled courtroom.
Inside the courtroom, Marchiano and his wife listened to prosecutors and defense attorneys discuss the case schedule. In all, 32 defendants and their attorneys appeared in court Tuesday.
"The problem with this type of case is no one moves very quickly unless whipped into doing so," Snyder told prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Snyder said the September trial date is firm.
"Be ready to proceed," she said.
Marchiano declined to comment later, as did his attorney, Buddy Parker.
On Tuesday, Snyder warned Parker that she still is upset with him because he identified a potential confidential informant in court papers last month.
The court papers, which Parker supplied to the Naples Daily News, identified two Naples employees of A.S. Goldmen as suspected confidential informants for prosecutors. Snyder sealed the document after prosecutors expressed concerns for the safety of witnesses.
The Naples Daily News declined to publish the names of the suspected informants, who in interviews acknowledged their concern but contended they had no information about the case.
The gangland-style killings of two stock promoters - one a former A.S. Goldmen employee - in a New Jersey mansion in October prompted heightened concerns by prosecutors for witnesses' safety in the Goldmen case.
The former employee, Al Chalem, worked for Goldmen in 1994 and 1995, according to the National Association of Securities Dealers which oversees stock broker licensing.
New Jersey investigators are pursuing the theory of a Goldmen connection to the New Jersey killings, along with a numerous other theories connected to the dead men's web of shady business deals over the years.
"Everything now is going to be under seal, at least initially, so I don't have to worry about someone's life being placed in danger," Snyder said on Oct. 29, court transcripts obtained Tuesday by the Daily News show.
Court transcripts show Snyder said she was "outraged" by Parker's "unethical" behavior in submitting the court papers on the suspected informants. The judge said she didn't believe Parker, a former federal prosecutor, would intentionally place someone in danger.
Parker apologized to the judge and said he made a mistake by submitting the document.
Snyder gave prosecutors the option of requesting Parker's removal, but prosecutors declined to pursue it.
Entire contents ¸ 1999 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved. Published in Naples, Florida. A Scripps Howard newspaper.
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