FURTHER VINDICATION!!->"The former chief executive of scandal-plagued Eagle Building Technologies of Boca Raton has pleaded guilty to federal securities fraud charges, but likely will avoid jail time by cooperating with authorities.
The plea agreement, filed a week ago in Miami federal court, stipulates that prosecutors will seek dismissal of the fraud charges in exchange for Anthony D'Amato's help in investigating other cases."
Boca Raton Fla., Eagle Building Technologies' Ex-Chief Pleads Guilty to Fraud
BOCA RATON, Fla., May 09, 2003 (The Palm Beach Post - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- The former chief executive of scandal-plagued Eagle Building Technologies of Boca Raton has pleaded guilty to federal securities fraud charges, but likely will avoid jail time by cooperating with authorities.
The plea agreement, filed a week ago in Miami federal court, stipulates that prosecutors will seek dismissal of the fraud charges in exchange for Anthony D'Amato's help in investigating other cases.
D'Amato gave $20,000 during the last election to a political action committee of U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, and held other fund-raising activities for the congressman.
Wexler claimed he barely knew D'Amato, but company and federal records show the legislator had dealings not only with D'Amato, but also with Eagle Building Technologies, including being a shareholder of the company.
Later on, Wexler amended his assertion that he hardly knew D'Amato. "It upsets me to no end that I trusted the wrong people," he said at the time.
Wexler, who won reelection in a landslide, did not return phone calls seeking comment on D'Amato's guilty plea.
Arrested last summer as part of an FBI sting operation called Bermuda Short, D'Amato was one of 58 people indicted in a massive undercover dragnet that targeted South Florida securities scammers.
It is unclear from the plea agreement whether D'Amato is cooperating with Bermuda Short cases, or whether his cooperation involves other probes that have yet to be made public, including perhaps into matters involving Eagle Building Technologies.
"It looks like D'Amato has become a cooperating witness," said Ken Vianale, a Boca Raton securities lawyer familiar with the case.
The plea deal requires D'Amato to testify in grand jury and other proceedings, assist in the recovery of forfeitable assets, as well as go undercover if the Justice Department so requests.
Washington, D.C.-based federal prosecutor Thomas McCann, who is in charge of the D'Amato case, was away from his office and unavailable for comment Thursday.
"There appears to be unresolved matters involving D'Amato, so we would have no comment right now," said Matt Dates, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami.
John Dowd, D'Amato's attorney in Washington, did not return phone calls.
After meeting famed Boca Raton stock trader Meyer Berman on an airplane in the late 1990s, D'Amato rose out of obscurity to become a major player in political financial circles. Berman, Eagle Building's largest shareholder, is a top national Democratic Party donor.
Federal records show that D'Amato started making hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, mostly to Republicans, including $30,000 to New York Gov. George Pataki.
Before Bermuda Short, D'Amato and Eagle Building were the target of an unrelated Securities and Exchange Commission securities fraud action, as well as numerous private lawsuits.
After the SEC swept into Eagle Building's offices in February 2002, D'Amato agreed to settle the agency's civil suit without admitting or denying guilt.
The suit alleged, among other things, that D'Amato hatched a scheme to lift Eagle Building's share price by making phony claims that the company had a device that could detect deadly biological agents. The claims were made at the height of the anthrax scare in late 2001, helping to double Eagle Building's stock price.
By Ted Jackson
To see more of The Palm Beach Post -- including its homes, jobs, cars and
other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to gopbi.com
(c) 2003, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News.
-0- |
