Legal News

Dreier?s Lawyer: ?There is No Reservoir of Money, No Money Off-Shore?

By Dan Slater

With so many big numbers flying around in the Madoff case — just yesterday, prosecutors said that investigators turned up about 100 signed checks totaling more than $173 million in Madoff’s case — it’s easy to forget about Marc Dreier and the allegation of a measly $380 million scam.

But there’s a lot going on in the Dreier case. As we noted last month, Dreier seemed to take the short end of the stick when it came to bail. (Madoff got it, Dreier didn’t.) But now, Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, is telling the NYLJ that he expects to make a renewed bail application within the week. Shargel will argue that Dreier does not pose a flight risk; and, that he’s been cooperating with the receiver, Paul Weiss’s Mark Pomerantz. Shargel (pictured) told the NYLJ:

One of the principal problems the government identified at the initial bail hearing, and Magistrate Judge Eaton identified, was the suggestion that Mr. Dreier had access to millions of dollars and millions were somehow offshore. That’s not true. I believe that what we’ve been able to do is demonstrate there is no reservoir of money and no money off-shore and that will be an important part of our bail argument.

The NYLJ points out that, as Shargel prepares to renew the bail argument for Dreier, Bernie Madoff’s bail could be revoked, due to this week’s revelation that Madoff and his wife mailed packages of jewelry valued at over $1 million to relatives and friends in late December — a violation of an order not to dissipate assets in a related SEC case. If Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis rules in Madoff’s favor, that might give Shargel some extra firepower for his bail argument.

The NYLJ also reports that Dreier apparently needs money to pay for his defense. To that end, Shargel has requested a hearing to argue for an exception to the freeze on Dreier’s assets that was granted in the related civil case brought by the SEC.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 09, 2009 (boomark / email).