Frankel Decides to Plead Guilty
By DIANE SCARPONI
.c The Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Martin Frankel, the former financier accused of bilking over $200 million from insurance companies in five states, has decided to plead guilty, his lawyer said.
Jeremiah Donovan on Wednesday confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that Frankel would plead guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.
A hearing was set for Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court.
Donovan refused to discuss details of the plea agreement, but said it involves only Frankel and not the four co-conspirators who also are charged in the insurance theft scheme.
``It's unknown whether Frankel's plea will have anything to do with their decision to plead or not,'' he said.
Frankel had faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted at trial.
Frankel was accused of gaining control of small insurance companies in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee - and stealing cash from the company reserves during the 1990s.
He ran the insurance empire from the wealthy Connecticut town of Greenwich and spent the money on private planes, luxury cars, expensive wines and gifts for women he met through personals ads and other means.
He fled the country in May 1999, as Mississippi insurance regulators began investigating.
Four months later, after an international manhunt, Frankel was discovered in a hotel room in Hamburg, Germany, with nine fake passports and 547 diamonds. He was extradited to the United States in March 2001.
The accused co-conspirators include two aides, Mona Kim and Sonia Howe, and accountant Gary Atnip. Another aide, German national Kaethe Schuchter, is wanted by the FBI.
An Italian monsignor with ties to the Vatican is also accused of trying to use his connections to launder stolen insurance company money through a bogus charity Frankel set up.
Msgr. Emilio Colagiovanni is charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Under an agreement with prosecutors, he is being detained in the United States and is living with a cousin in Ohio.
State insurance regulators are seeking more than $600 million in damages from Frankel in civil cases, and they have sued the Vatican, alleging the church was involved in Frankel's schemes.
The federal lawsuit, filed last week by the commissioners of Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, accuses the Vatican and Colagiovanni of racketeering and fraud.
The Vatican has denied any involvement in the scheme. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Wednesday that at the time of the alleged scheme, Colagiovanni was a retired priest no longer holding any Vatican office and was acting ``as a private Italian citizen.''
05/15/02 10:48 EDT |
