Stratton Oakmont's Name Surfaces in Mob-On-Wall-St. Case by Michael Rapoport 22 March 1999 Dow Jones News Service
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Stratton Oakmont's Name Surfaces In Mob-On-Wall-St. Case By Michael Rapoport 22 March 1999 Dow Jones News Service NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Stratton Oakmont Inc., a now-defunct brokerage firm that allegedly defrauded investors out of tens of millions of dollars, may have a connection to the government's biggest case alleging organized-crime influence on Wall Street. A federal judge overseeing the trial of two people charged in that case asked prospective jurors Monday whether they had any ties to Stratton, saying the firm's name "may come up during this trial." U.S. District Judge Denny Chin's statement was an apparent attempt to weed out potential jurors who might have a conflict of interest in hearing the case, which concerns an alleged mob-related attempt to inflate the stock price of HealthTech International Inc. There was no indication Monday of the nature of the potential Stratton connection, however, and it's possible that it may not be a major one. Still, Chin's statement is the most public hint to date raising the possibility that people associated with Stratton may have some connection to mob attempts to gain a foothold in the securities industry. Business Week reported in 1996 that such a possible connection was under investigation. Both prosecutors and attorneys for the defendants in the HealthTech case, Gordon Hall and Michael Motsykulashvili, declined to comment. It was at the request of James McGuire, Hall's attorney, that the judge asked the prospective jurors about Stratton. Nicholas DeFeis, an attorney for Jordan Belfort, Stratton's former chairman, said he has "no idea" what connection Stratton or anyone associated with it may have to the HealthTech case. An attorney for Daniel Porush, Stratton's former chief executive, couldn't immediately be reached. Stratton itself is now under the control of a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Harvey Miller, who was out of the country and unavailable Monday. Hall is HealthTech's chairman and chief executive and Motsykulashvili was a broker at the now-defunct firm of Meyers Pollock Robbins Inc. They are charged with participating in a scheme controlled by reputed members of organized-crime families to profit by artificially pumping up the price of HealthTech stock. Fourteen people, including four alleged mob figures, have already pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme. Neither Hall nor Motsykulashvili is alleged to have mob ties themselves. Both have pleaded not guilty, and jury selection in their case began Monday. The HealthTech case is part of a larger federal probe of mob influence among small brokerages and small-cap stocks, although authorities have said such influence is isolated and limited. As part of that probe, Business Week reported in 1996, the government was investigating allegations that a group of former Stratton brokers, after the firm's demise, may have extorted money from former colleagues and shared it with a mob-family member. Stratton Oakmont, based in Lake Success, N.Y., was expelled from the securities industry last year in the wake of a history of alleged small-stock abuses. The firm ceased operations in 1996 and is currently being liquidated. Belfort and Porush are both under indictment on charges unrelated to the HealthTech case. In addition to Stratton and Meyers Pollock, Judge Chin also asked jurors about two other brokerages whose names he said may come up during the trial: Cohig & Associates and Toluca Pacific Securities. In addition to the HealthTech allegations, Hall is charged in a separate indictment with trying to bribe brokers at Cohig to induce them to sell shares of a different company to their clients. There has been no allegation that that alleged scheme is mob-related. Toluca Pacific, which is now defunct, has also reportedly been a subject of the government's investigation over potential mob ties. Motsykulashvili worked at Toluca Pacific before coming to Meyers Pollock. BUSINESS Stratton Tied to Mob Case? / Defunct brokerage `may come up' at trial, judge says DOW JONES NEWS 473 words 23 March 1999 Newsday NASSAU AND SUFFOLK A43 English (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1999) Stratton Oakmont Inc., a now-defunct brokerage firm that allegedly defrauded investors out of tens of millions of dollars, may have a connection to the government's biggest case alleging organized-crime influence on Wall Street. A federal judge overseeing the trial of two people charged in that case asked prospective jurors yesterday whether they had any ties to Lake Success-based Stratton, saying the firm's name "may come up during this trial." U.S. District Judge Denny Chin's statement was an apparent attempt to weed out potential jurors who might have a conflict of interest in hearing the case, which concerns an alleged mob-related attempt to inflate the stock price of HealthTech International Inc., a Mesa, Ariz.-based company that owns fitness clubs. There was no indication yesterday of the nature of the potential Stratton connection, however, and it's possible that it may not be a major one. Still, Chin's statement is the most public hint to date raising the possibility that people associated with Stratton may have some connection to mob attempts to gain a foothold in the securities industry. Prosecutors and attorneys for the defendants in the HealthTech case, Gordon Hall and Michael Motsykulashvili, declined to comment. It was at the request of James McGuire, Hall's attorney, that the judge asked the prospective jurors about Stratton. Nicholas DeFeis, an attorney for Jordan Belfort, Stratton's former chairman, said he has "no idea" what connection Stratton or anyone associated with it may have to the HealthTech case. An attorney for Daniel Porush, Stratton's former chief executive, couldn't be reached. Stratton itself, which ceased operations in 1996, is now under the control of a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Harvey Miller, who was unavailable yesterday. Hall is HealthTech's chairman and chief executive, and Motsykulashvili was a broker at the now- defunct firm of Meyers Pollock Robbins Inc. They are charged with participating in a scheme controlled by reputed members of organized-crime families to profit by artificially pumping up the price of HealthTech stock. Fourteen people, including four alleged mob figures, have already pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme. Neither Hall nor Motsykulashvili is alleged to have mob ties themselves. Both have pleaded not guilty, and jury selection in their case began Monday. The HealthTech case is part of a larger federal probe of mob influence among small brokerages and small-cap stocks, although authorities have said such influence is isolated and limited. As part of that probe, Business Week reported in 1996, the government was investigating allegations that a group of former Stratton brokers, after the firm's demise, may have extorted money from former colleagues and shared it with a mob-family member. Beaches, Billy Joel and, Oddly, Swindles Long Island Weekly Desk; Section 14LI The Island Has Become Home to Stock Scams, But Regulators Are Cracking Down By LESLIE EATON 1876 words 18 April 1999 The New York Times NYTF Page 1, Column 1 English (c) 1999 New York Times Company IN the rest of the country, Long Island tends to have a rather mixed image, concocted from television clips of beautiful beaches, Billy Joel and epic traffic tie-ups on the Long Island Expressway. But nothing has tarnished that image, in the minds of thousands of Americans, as much as another unpleasant element of Island life: stock-market scams. Securities swindles have become a sort of cottage industry on the Island in the past two decades, regulators and law enforcement officials say. A particular specialty has been the fraudulent operation known as a boiler room, in which hundreds of young men use ''never-take-no-for-an- answer'' telephone tactics to sell worthless stocks to investors, mostly in the South and Midwest (like other birds of prey, these scam artists do not like to foul their own nests). While boiler rooms flourish in several regions of the country, some of the most infamous have had glitzy names and Long Island addresses, including Kensington Wells in Syosset, Sterling Foster in Melville, and the biggest one of all, Stratton Oakmont in Lake Success. And as soon as one shut down, another would spring up, in what regulators call the ''blob of mercury'' problem. ''Maybe it's something in the water,'' said Barry R. Goldsmith, a native of Levittown who is executive vice president for enforcement at the National Association of Securities Dealers' regulatory arm. ''Why is there a Diamond District in Manhattan, or a Silicon Valley in California?'' After years of struggling to put such operations out of business using fines and other regulatory penalties, the Government has hauled out the big guns: criminal prosecutions and the threat of prison time. In the past year, Federal, state and local prosecutors have filed charges against some of the most notorious firms and the men who run them, including a brokerage firm in New Hyde Park that Federal prosecutors said was infiltrated by members of an organized crime family. Fourteen people have pleaded guilty in that case in Federal District Court in Manhattan. But the most closely watched trial -- scheduled to begin in early June in Brooklyn -- will be the one involving Stratton Oakmont and its owners, Jordan R. Belfort of Old Brookville and Daniel M. Porush of Syosset. The two men were indicted in September on charges of securities fraud and money laundering brought by Zachary W. Carter, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Both men have pleaded not guilty. In addition to testing the Government's new strategy, and providing new details of how boiler rooms function, the trial may also interest a wide audience, because it is likely to feature some irresistibly dramatic elements: allegations involving drugs and really staggering sums of money.