B: Lawyer: Accused Man Knew of Attacks
(Comtex 05/24 15:53:06)
SAN DIEGO, May 24, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- An Egyptian-born financial
analyst charged in a nationwide stock swindle may have known about the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks and tried to profit from them, a federal prosecutor said
Friday.
Amr I. "Tony" Elgindy telephoned his broker on Sept. 10 and asked him to
liquidate his children's $300,000 trust account, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken
Breen told a federal judge at Elgindy's detention hearing.
"He made a comment predicting the market would drop to 3,000" at a time when the
Dow Jones stock index was at 9,600, Breen said. "Perhaps Mr. Elgindy had
pre-knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead of trying to report it, he tried
to profit from it."
Elgindy, 34, of Encinitas, was ordered held without bond on charges of
racketeering, extortion and obstruction of justice. Before issuing the order,
Magistrate Judge John Houston said he was going to "disregard" the suggestion
that Elgindy had anything to do with the terror attacks.
Elgindy, wearing a tan jumpsuit, did not speak during the hourlong hearing.
His attorney, Jeanne Knight, said Elgindy did call his broker to make a trade,
but the timing was coincidental and the market had been dropping for months.
"It seems like the government, for lack of factual evidence, has decided to
smear my client with terrorist innuendoes," Knight said. "This is smacking of
racial profiling."
Breen made his accusations as prosecutors tried to convince Houston that Elgindy
was a flight risk and should be denied bail.
Elgindy, one of five defendants in the case, was arrested May 22 on an
indictment issued by a grand jury in New York.
In exchange for money, two FBI agents used confidential databases to provide
Elgindy and other co-conspirators with information on publicly traded companies,
the indictment said.
Elgindy allegedly spread negative information about the companies on his Web
site and to subscribers of his e-mail newsletter, InsideTruth.com, while betting
that the companies' stock would go down.
In one case, a former FBI agent searched the agency's confidential National
Crime Information Center database and discovered the criminal history of a top
executive for a company called Nuclear Solutions, the indictment said. The same
day, Elgindy began sending e-mail calling the executive "a convicted felon,"
then sold the company's stock short, the papers said.
Earlier this week, FBI agents raided Elgindy's $2.2 million mansion. Inside,
agents said, they found tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gold coins. The
government is seeking to seize Elgindy's fleet of cars, including a Rolls Royce,
a Jaguar and a Humvee.
If convicted of all counts, Elgindy faces a maximum 65 years in prison.
By SETH HETTENA
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved |
