Sky Capital's Ross Mandell Loses Bid For Supreme Court Appeal
2/23/2015 @ 12:39PM 50 views
Ross Mandell entered federal prison in Miami on September 10, 2014 to begin a 12 year prison term after a 5-week trial in 2012 ended with a finding of ‘guity.’ Mandell had lost an appeal to the 2nd Circuit in 2014. He then filed a writ of certiorari in late 2014 to have his case heard by the Supreme Court, his last chance to appeal. Today, the Supreme Court denied his petition.
Mandell founded Sky Capital, which had offices in the United States but primarily received money from investors in the U.K. and raised money for stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange's London Stock Exchange's AIM. His defense was that he never intended to defraud investors by raising money through Sky for small, high risk, start-up companies. In addition, Mandell’s attorney, Jeffrey Hoffman, had argued that since the large majority of transactions occurred outside the United States, with non-U.S. citizens, that the U.S. government had no jurisdiction over the case. Hoffman had argued this throughout the trial and even requested that U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty instruct the jury of the need to base its decision on domestic, not foreign, securities transactions. Judge Crotty denied it.
Today’s Supreme Court decision brings to an end an almost decades-long investigation and prosecution. Mandell’s co-defendant, Adam Harrington, was also convicted with Mandell and is currently in federal prison serving a 5 year term. Five former Sky Capital brokers pleaded guilty and cooperated against Mandell/Harrington. They all received probation (no prison). One other, Stephen Shea, pleaded guilty but provided no assistance to federal authorities in the case and he was sentenced to 30 months prison.
Mandell has never been shy about proclaiming his innocence and had even pitched a reality TV series on his life during his legal case that had a working title of “Facing Life.” A 2009 promotional piece for the reality TV show about his legal drama showed the outspoken Mandell saying, “… I’ve just got one small problem, I’ve been indicted by the United States Government for conspiracy and securities fraud …” Over four years later, there is no television show, Mandell is in prison and now his appeals are exhausted.
Despite this recent decision, Mandell continues to believe in his innocence. You can be certain that he has plenty more to say and will find an outlet to say it.
Mandell (57) will be released from federal prison on February 21, 2025. |
