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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peter michaelson who wrote (64638)	12/18/2000 4:26:48 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Trial of Ex-Goldmen CFO on Murder-for-Hire Charge Nearing End New York, Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The trial of Stuart Winkler, a former executive at A.S. Goldmen & Co. accused of plotting to kill the judge in his securities fraud case, could go to the jury as early as today. In closing arguments this morning, defense attorney Jack Litman asked jurors to weigh the credibility of Winkler against jail inmate Carl Ligon, the prosecution's star witness. Ligon taped two conversations in June and July in which Winkler is heard giving him the go-ahead to kill State Supreme Court Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder. Ligon ``entrapped, ensnared and overreached'' in his efforts to persuade Winkler to give the order to kill Snyder, Litman told jurors. ``He is a manipulator of everyone in the system,'' Litman said of Ligon. Winkler was the chief financial officer for Goldmen, which went out of business in 1998 after federal authorities raided its offices. One of 49 people at the Goldmen brokerage accused of securities fraud, Winkler was first arrested in July 1999. He was released about a week later, but was sent back to jail in April by Snyder after he violated the conditions of his bail. Winkler has acknowledged ordering Snyder's killing, but says he was intimidated by Ligon, a career felon who allegedly tried to extort money by threatening Winkler's family. Early Parole Litman pointed to Ligon's long criminal history and his past cooperation with authorities to support his theory that Winkler was used by Ligon to secure an early release from prison. Ligon, 35, has admitted to hundreds of armed robberies and several shootings in his criminal career. He was facing 20 years to life for a series of arrests in 1999 and earlier this year on armed robbery and weapons possession charges. Ligon's deal with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office could make him eligible for parole as early as next March. ``Look at the deal he eventually does get,'' Litman told jurors. ``How much time will go by before he sticks a gun in my face, your face, someone else in New York? You know that man is lying through and through.'' Winkler faces 25 years in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy and criminal solicitation, plus another 25 years if found guilty in the securities fraud case that prompted the alleged plot on the judge. Once a field supervisor in the New York office of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Winkler is accused of helping Goldmen conceal its misdeeds from regulators. In its heyday, scandal-plagued A.S. Goldmen had offices in Manhattan, Naples, Fla., and Iselin, N.J., with nearly 100 brokers and 50,000 accounts. Dec/18/2000 15:10 ET For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 2000 Bloomberg L.P.