Dewey prosecution was based on 'fantasy fraud,' lawyer says in closing argument
A lawyer for the former chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf told Manhattan jurors Tuesday that the prosecution case against his client was a “fantasy fraud” based on accounting adjustments that were proper or, at worst, debatable.
There is “not one shred of evidence” that former chairman Steven Davis acted in anything other than good faith, Davis’ lawyer Elkan Abramowitz told jurors. The New York Times DealBook blog and the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) have stories on Abramowitz’s closing argument, made after defense lawyers rested their case without calling any witnesses.
Abramowitz said prosecutors had not called an accounting expert on the legality of the accounting adjustments, and noted testimony by cooperating witnesses who said they didn’t know whether the adjustments were illegal. “How could they have conspired with Mr. Davis to do anything wrong if they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong?” Abramowitz asked.
The lawyer also said many of the prosecution witnesses said they never spoke with Davis or rarely interacted with him.
Davis is on trial along with Dewey’s former chief financial officer, Joel Sanders, and its former executive director, Stephen DiCarmine. They are accused of deceiving Dewey’s lenders and bond buyers about the law firm’s finances.
Abramowitz said Dewey’s 2012 bankruptcy was caused by the departures of several high-producing partners, whose decision to leave spurred lenders and bond buyers to sell their share of the firm’s debt. The decision to pull out “had absolutely nothing to do with comparatively small accounting adjustments,” Abramowitz said.
The case could go to the jury by the end of the week, according to the DealBook blog.
