Legal News

Marc Dreier?s Lawyer: He is Penniless

By Dan Slater

Marc Dreier entered his not guilty plea on Monday, but the bail question still remains.

Prosecutors have appealed a magistrate judge’s decision to set bail at $20 million earlier this month. The magistrate judge declined to release Dreier until his friends or family could come up with $10 million in cash or property to secure the loan.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, reports Dow Jones Newswires, said he intends to rule on the detention request by the end of the week. He asked both sides to submit additional papers.

During the hearing, Paul Weiss’s Mark Pomerantz, the receiver, said a review of Dreier LLP’s records hasn’t uncovered an “unexplained horde of cash” stashed in another jurisdiction by Dreier. “I would be surprised at the end of the day anywhere in the world that there would be available to Mr. Dreier the amount of $10 or $15 million,” said Pomerantz, who, notes DJ Newswires, was speaking by telephone to the court, but not placed under oath.

Gerald L. Shargel, Dreier’s lawyer, apparently agreed, arguing that his client doesn’t have the means to flee and doesn’t have ties outside of the U.S. “He is penniless,” Shargel said. “Every single dollar he had or piece of property has been restrained.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).