Daily Archives: March 30, 2006

Fifth Circuit orders William Fuhs released from prison

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In an extraordinary development, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this afternoon — just three weeks after oral argument in the appeal by four Merrill Lynch executives of their convictions in the controversial Enron-related Nigerian Barge case — ordered former Merrill Lynch executive William Fuhs released immediately on bond pending final disposition of his appeal. Here are the NY Times and the Chronicle articles on the order.

From the Fifth Circuit docket of the appeal, it appears that Fuhs was the only one of the Merrill Four who filed a renewed motion for release pending disposition of the appeal after the March 6th oral argument.

The Fifth Circuit’s order came after both U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein and the Fifth Circuit had previously denied Fuhs’ motion for release pending appeal of his conviction.

Fuhs will make an appearance on Friday at 2 p.m. before a U.S. Magistrate in Oklahoma City (where he was serving his sentence) to establish the terms and conditions of his release. The Fifth Circuit’s unusual action is a strong signal that Fuhs has a winner on the merits of his appeal.

Fuhs is represented by David Spears of Richards Spears Kibbe & Orbe LLP of New York City and on appeal by Seth Waxman, Paul A. Engelmayer, and Anne K. Small of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP’s New York and Washington offices.

The Convertino case

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Covertino.jpgClear Thinkers favorite Peter Henning provides this cogent analysis of the important case of Richard Convertino, the former Assistant U.S. Attorney who was indicted yesterday on conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury charges for his part as lead counsel in the extraordinary “Detroit Terrorism Trial,” the case in which two defendants were convicted on terrorism charges only to have the prosecution request that the verdicts be thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct. A copy of the indictment is here, the WaPo article on the indictment is here and the NY Times article is here.
As Professor Henning reports, this may be the first indictment based on a prosecutor’s alleged failure to comply with the government’s Brady obligation and the prosecution’s duty to turnover to the defense potentially exculpatory evidence that the prosecution obtained in the course of its investigation. Given the Enron Task Force’s use of similarly questionable tactics in connection with various Enron-related prosecutions — including this recent alleged failure to comply with the Task Force’s Brady obligation in the Lay-Skilling case — you can bet that the defense attorneys involved in the Enron-related criminal cases will be following the Convertino case closely.
11/01/07 Update: Convertino was acquitted.

The New Face of Exxon

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Tillerson.jpgThis NY Times article profiles new ExxonMobil CEO Rex W. Tillerson, who succeeded Lee Raymond three months ago.
Although Exxon’s core strategy will not change under Tillerson’s leadership, the article notes that Tillerson’s style is definitely different from that of the notoriously serious Raymond. At a recent news conference, Tillerson was asked what he thought would happen to oil prices this year:

“If I knew,” Tillerson quipped. “I’d be living on a Caribbean island with my flip-flops and a laptop, working just two hours a day.”

Rockets choose a stathead as new GM

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Rockets3.gifThe moribund Houston Rockets — clearly the least popular of Houston’s three major professional sports franchises — announced yesterday that longtime general manager Carroll Dawson will retire as GM after next season and that he will groom 32 year-old Boston Celtics executive Daryl Morey as the Rockets’ new GM over the next year.
Morey is an interesting hire, to say the least. An MIT graduate, Morey has never been a player or a coach, and essentially has spent his entire professional life developing statistical models for analyzing various sports, most recently basketball for the Celtics. Bill James and the sabermatricians have used such statistical models in analyzing professional baseball over the past three decades, but such statistical modeling remains relatively new in professional basketball. Over the past several years, Morey has been an adjunct professor at MIT Solan in recent years, teaching “Analytical Sports Management” with Mr. James — who is currently a consultant with the Red Sox — contributing as a guest instructor.
Although an unusual hire, Rockets owner Les Alexander should be applauded for taking a flyer on Morey. As noted in earlier posts here and here, the Rockets have been mismanaged for the better part of a decade now and have essentially wasted all of the goodwill that the club had established as a result of their back-to-back NBA titles in the mid-1990’s.
Once the toughest ticket in town, the Rockets now play to small and unenthusiastic crowds in the club’s new, gleaming downtown arena and rarely are even a topic on the city’s multiple sports-talk radio shows. Inasmuch as the team has not even been particularly competitive over the past several years with either of its Texas counterparts — the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks — this is an organization that desperately needs new blood and life. Here’s hoping that Morey can provide it.

Tough client

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Moussaoui2.jpgMost of us lawyers have had difficult clients from time to time, but this WaPo article reports that would-be 9/11 bomber Zacarias Moussaoui redefines the concept of the difficult client.
As we all know, Moussaoui pled guilty to six counts arising from the 9/11 suicide bombing of the World Trade Center and now federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty because Moussaoui could have supplied information that would have prevented the attacks. Moussaoui’s defense contended that the defendant was a merely a fringe figure in al Qaeda. That led to the following testimony:

[Zacarias Moussaoui] had planned to fly a hijacked airliner into the White House, but he got arrested before the attack and had to sit it out. Yesterday, fighting the death penalty in an Alexandria courtroom, he took the stand — over his lawyers’ strenuous objections — and pretty much destroyed the defense his team had built.
He readily agreed that he was part of the 9/11 plot. “I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House,” he said, and he knew of the World Trade Center attacks but lied to prevent authorities from stopping them.
“You rejoiced in the fact that Americans were killed?” the prosecutor asked.
“That is correct,” Moussaoui said, matter-of-factly.
You called the collapse of the twin towers “gorgeous”?
“Indeed.”
You asserted that “3,000 miscreant disbelievers” burned in a “hellfire”?
“That is correct.”

Moussaoui’s defense team proceeded to contend that he is insane and, thus, his testimony should be disregarded, while the prosecution contended that it would be unfair to deny Moussaoui the opportunity to testify. Moussaoui agreed with the prosecution. In fact, Moussaoui was more cooperative with prosecutors and became restless on the stand only when questioned by his own lawyers.
Tough client, indeed. Hat tip to Carolyn Elefant for the link to the WaPo article.