Corrupt agent betrayed public trust, prosecutor says in closing argument
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
January 11, 2005, 3:06 PM EST
NEW YORK -- A corrupt FBI agent betrayed the public by feeding confidential information to inside traders who used it to manipulate penny stocks, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.
Jeffrey Royer said he gave government files to San Diego stock picker Anthony Elgindy because he wanted Elgindy's help probing fraudulent firms, the prosecutor said in his closing argument.
In fact, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Levine, Royer thought the trader and his associates would help him pay off tens of thousands of dollars in personal debt.
Royer and Elgindy are on trial in Brooklyn federal court on charges of racketeering and stock fraud.
"Royer used his position of trust _ his position of trust in the FBI _ to betray not only the FBI itself, and the other federal and state agencies with whom the FBI works, but the public," Levine said.
Levine said dozens of witnesses and transcripts of Internet chat-room conversations offered during the five-week trial proved that Royer mined government computers for information, such as executives' criminal records, that Elgindy used to extort firms or manipulate their stock prices.
Elgindy ran a Web site for traders engaged in short-selling, or betting against the stocks, of low-value companies.
Royer even tipped off the Egyptian-born financial analyst to an FBI probe into whether he profited from advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks by selling off stocks that plunged after the attacks.
Charges were never filed in the Sept. 11-related Elgindy probe. U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie has repeatedly instructed jurors that the racketeering and stock fraud charges have no relation to terrorism.
Royer, who chewed gum and smirked as Levine talked, testified during the trial that he felt he needed no official authorization to give out FBI information because he was trying to develop information about financial fraud.
At the time, Royer was an agent in the Gallup, N.M., office investigating mostly crimes on Indian tribal land. He planned to leave the FBI and work as a private investigator for Elgindy and other traders.
"It just can't be that FBI agents who have badges and guns go running around the country doing whatever they want," Levine said.
Lawyers for Royer and Elgindy are expected to deliver their closing arguments Wednesday.
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
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