A New York state court jury acquitted former Bank of America Corp. broker Theodore C. Sihpol today on 29 criminal counts relating to alleged improper trading of mutual-fund shares. The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal on four additional counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those counts. Here is a previous post on Mr. Sihpol’s case.
The acquittal was a bitter blow for New York Aspiring Governor Eliot Spitzer, whose office tried the case against Mr. Sihpol as the first criminal trial emanating from Mr. Spitzer’s crackdown on what he characterizes as abusive trading practices in the mutual fund industry. As is his custom in such matters, Mr. Spitzer bludgeoned settlements out of several major fund firms by threatening them with devastating criminal indictments, but the young Mr. Sihpol refused to back down. Thus, even though he threatened Mr. Sihpol with an absurdly harsh 30 year sentence in prison if he were to be found guilty of the charges, Mr. Spitzer was forced to try the case and, in the end, had his hat handed to him.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.