Legal News

Back from Europe, Former Credit Suisse Broker Pleads Not Guilty

By Dan Slater

Julian Tzolov, the former Credit Suisse broker who some believed fled to his native Bulgaria, arrived in New York on Thursday from Germany, where both an indictment and an FBI arrest awaited him. On Friday, he pleaded not guilty to charges that he and another Credit Suisse broker, Eric Butler, misled investors about purchases of auction rate securities. Here’s the WSJ report.

“Julian Tzolov is innocent of these charges,” said Tzolov’s attorney, Paul Hastings’ Kenneth Breen. “We’re going to show that these were sophisticated investors who were Mr. Tzolov’s clients and that they knew exactly what their investments were,” he added. “Julian Tzolov should not be blamed for an unforeseen market failure.”

Tzolov and Butler were charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors allege the two engaged in a plan to get higher commissions by approaching clients about buying ARS backed by student loans, but used clients’ funds to buy more risky debt obligations. (Here’s LB coverage of the indictment.) Butler pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 08, 2008 (boomark / email).