Embarrassing Dewey emails are cast as sarcasm; partner insists 'I am the reason you have this job'
Defense lawyers in the trial of three former leaders at Dewey & LeBoeuf are scrambling to defend emails presented by prosecutors as evidence the defendants intended to defraud lenders and bond buyers.
Prosecutors have noted emails talking about “fake income” and “clueless auditor,” while defense lawyers argue the emails show sarcasm rather than an intent to defraud, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. This week, one defense lawyer pointed to emails by a government witness to make the point that it’s common for people to email statements they don’t really mean.
Under questioning by defense lawyer Andrew Frisch, former Dewey partner Richard Shutran admitted some of his email comments were intended as jokes or sarcasm, and were not serious. The emails:
—Responded this way to an email congratulating him on a refinanced debt: “No problem. I spend most days bulls—ing people.”
—Gave this advice: “Do what I do. Work out a lot and do drugs.”
—Responded this way to an email urging partners to collect money from clients: “If any of them call me, I will kill them.”
A debt collection plea, meanwhile, provoked another partner into an email rant against the firm’s former client relations manager, Suzanna Sanchez, according to testimony last week. Above the Law and the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) covered the email by the partner, John Altorelli.
Altorelli told Sanchez never to send him such an email again and wrote: “I am the reason you have a job. You obviously have no clue about what is appropriate. I am going to talk to [executive director] Steve DiCarmine and insist that you be fired if you ever send me an email or call me again. If he does not, I will seek other opportunities at a firm that gets it.”
DiCarmine is on trial along with former chief financial officer Joel Sanders and former chairman Steven Davis.
