United States v. Mulheren

United States v. Mulheren

Opinion

 [*365]  McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge.

In the late 1980's a wide prosecutorial net was cast upon Wall Street. Along with the usual flotsam and jetsam, the government's catch included some of Wall Street's biggest, brightest, and now infamous -- Ivan Boesky, Dennis Levine, Michael Milken, Robert Freeman, Martin Siegel, Boyd L. Jeffries, and Paul A. Bilzerian -- each of whom either pleaded guilty to or was convicted of crimes [**2]  involving illicit trading scandals. Also caught in the government's net was defendant-appellant John A. Mulheren, Jr., the chief trader at and general partner of Jamie Securities Co. ("Jamie"), a registered broker-dealer.

Mulheren was charged in a 42-count indictment handed-up on June 13, 1989. The indictment alleged that he conspired to and did manipulate the price on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") of the common stock of Gulf & Western Industries, Inc. ("G & W" or the "company") in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) & 78ff and 18 U.S.C. § 2, by purchasing 75,000 shares of G & W common stock on October 17, 1985 for the purpose of raising the price thereof to $ 45 per share (Counts One through Four); that he engaged in "stock parking" transactions to assist the Seemala Corporation, a registered broker-dealer controlled by Boesky, in evading tax and other regulatory requirements in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) & 78ff and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts Five through Twenty-Four); that he committed mail fraud in connection with the stock parking transactions in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 & 2 (Counts Twenty-Five through Thirty-Nine); and that Mulheren caused Jamie [**3]  to make and keep false books and records in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 78ff & 78q(a) (Counts Forty through Forty-Two).

Count Forty-One was dismissed before trial on the government's motion. At the conclusion of the government's case, the district court dismissed Counts Twenty-Nine through Thirty-Nine pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 29. Of the remaining thirty counts, the jury returned a partial verdict of guilt on Counts One through Four. A mistrial was declared by the district court when the jury could not reach a verdict on the other twenty-six counts. On Counts One through Four, Mulheren was sentenced to concurrent terms of one year and one day imprisonment, a $ 1,681,700 fine and a $ 200 special assessment.

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