Legal News

Dreier?s Lawyer on Bail: I Think the Comparison to Madoff is Useful

By Dan Slater

AmLaw has a few updates on the Marc Dreier case. Currently, the California scorpion fish-eating lawyer sits in jail over allegations of a $380 million fraud.

$50,000 for Shargel: Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, told AmLaw yesterday that “he has reached an agreement in principle with the SEC’s attorneys to release $50,000 that Dreier can use to pay his legal bills.” Jack Kaufman, an SEC lawyer in the agency’s civil suit against Dreier, told AmLaw he couldn’t comment until the agreement is made part of the public court file.

Comparing Marc to Bernie: Shargel, who reportedly still plans to contest a judge’s decision to hold Dreier without bail, told AmLaw that he’s not mentioning Madoff in his written application for bail. But he will bring Madoff up during oral argument if it seems appropriate. “I think the comparison is useful,” he said.

Give us our Benz back: The financial services wing of DaimlerChrysler filed papers Monday in Dreier LLP’s bankruptcy case asking the court to release the 2006 Mercedes-Benz R500 that Dreier leased three years ago. Dreier owes nearly $4,700 on the car and didn’t make any of his $938.75 monthly payments in November or December. AmLaw enjoyed the following line in the Mercedes motion: “The vehicle, by its intrinsic nature, is mobile, thereby subject to the foreseeable possibility of injury thereto by way of accident or collision.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 15, 2009 (boomark / email).