Federal Deposit Insurance v. Refco Group, Ltd.

184 F.R.D. 623, 51 Fed. R. Serv. 1571, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 762
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedJanuary 20, 1999
DocketNo. Civ.A. 93-K-85
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 184 F.R.D. 623 (Federal Deposit Insurance v. Refco Group, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Deposit Insurance v. Refco Group, Ltd., 184 F.R.D. 623, 51 Fed. R. Serv. 1571, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 762 (D. Colo. 1999).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON MOTIONS IN LIMINE

KANE, Senior District Judge.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), as Receiver for Jefferson Bank & Trust (“JBT”), pursues this action against Refco Group, Ltd., Refco, Inc., Refco Capital Corporation, Refco Securities, Inc. (collectively “Refco”), and Kimberley Goodman.1 FDIC seeks actual and punitive damages, allegedly arising from Defendants’ conduct and that of certain of their employees or agents during the period December 1989 through December 1991 resulting in substantial losses to and the ultimate failure of JBT.

FDIC’s remaining claims2 are against all Defendants for violation of § 18-17-104(3) of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (“COCCA”), violation of section 18-17-104(4) of COCCA, civil conspiracy, conspiring to commit or aiding and abetting false representations, false representations, conspiring to commit or aiding and abetting fraudulent concealment, fraudulent concealment, conspiring to commit and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of fiduciary duty; against all Defendants except Goodman for breach of contract; and against Refco for violation of §§ 11-51-125(3) and 11-51-604(4) of the Colorado Securities Act. In its answer, Refco denies the allegations in the Third Amended Complaint and asserts thirteen affirmative defenses. No counsel has formally entered an appearance on behalf of Goodman and she has not filed an answer to the Third Amended Complaint. Jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship of the parties, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

I. Procedural Status.

The parties submitted a lengthy proposed Amended Pretrial Order in which the length of trial was estimated by counsel for FDIC to be 30 court days and by counsel for Refco to be 90 court days. At a pretrial conference I rejected the proposed order, advised the parties that I intended to appoint the court’s own experts in each field in which an expert was listed by either or both sides, and gave each side ten days within which to file suggestions as to who should be appointed as the court’s expert witnesses. Thereafter, Refco moved for a hearing on the appointment of experts. At the hearing, counsel for Refco suggested that the ease was not expert intensive and that another way of paring down the case would be for the parties to file motions in limine in advance of trial to resolve certain issues outlined in the proposed Amended Pretrial Order. I vacated the order on the appointment of expert witnesses, ordered the parties to brief the motions in limine, and said I would reconsider the need to appoint the experts after ruling on those motions.

FDIC’s pending motions in limine seek (1) to exclude evidence relating to the 1993 crim[626]*626inal referral relating to Maurice Grotjohn and (2) to admit evidence of transactions between Refco and other Denman customers. Refco’s motions in limine request me (1) to exclude evidence relating to the dealings between Refco, Inc., Refco Capital Corporation (“RCC”), Refco Securities, Inc. (“RSI”) and any Wymer customer other than JBT; (2) to exclude evidence relating to events before JBT entered into its second management agreement with Denman and Co., dated December 7,1989; (3) to exclude evidence relating to settlements of disputes between (a) the Securities and Exchange Commission and each of Refco, Inc., RCC, Douglas Blair and Robert Dantone, and (b) the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Refco, Inc; (4) to exclude a criminal information filed against Kimberly Goodman on July 1, 1996, and any evidence relating to the criminal proceeding against Goodman; (5) to sever for trial FDIC’s claims against Refco from its claims against Goodman; (6) to exclude evidence, including expert testimony, relating to alleged violations of securities statutes, rules, regulations and industry standards; (7) to exclude testimony by Plaintiffs purported expert witnesses, John Moye and Bernard Lubin; (8) to exclude expert testimony about the purported “knowledge” of Refco or JBT; and (9) to exclude the character and speculative testimony by FDIC’s purported expert witness Ralph Mires.

I find oral argument would not be of material assistance and resolve the motions on the parties’ briefs and supporting documents. '

II. Merits of Motions in Limine.

A. FDIC’s Motion to Exclude Evidence . Relating to the 1993 Criminal Referral Concerning Maurice Grotjohn.

FDIC seeks an order excluding from trial any evidence of or reference to a 1993 Report of Apparent Crime relating to Maurice Grotjohn, former president of JBT. On October 21, 1993, FDIC forwarded to the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado and the Federal Bureau of Investigation a Report of Apparent Crime (“referral”), which alluded to “certain apparent irregularities” involving Maurice Grotjohn, former president of JBT, “which may constitute offenses under the Federal Criminal Statutes.” The referral was prepared by Sam Worrell, an FDIC investigator assigned to the FDIC team responsible for closing JBT. A copy of Worrell’s affidavit is attached to the motion in limine. In it, he states, in connection with the closing of JBT, the issue of whether its officers and directors were involved in any criminal wrongdoing was of secondary concern. If during the course of his civil investigation, he had “any suspicion” or “any inkling” of a criminal act, he was required to prepare a criminal referral, albeit on the basis of hearsay information. Although the referral lists three individuals who might have information concerning the suspected violation, Worrell states he personally interviewed only one of the three. No criminal charges have ever been brought against Grotjohn.

FDIC submits the referral should be excluded under Fed.R.Evid. 402 as irrelevant and under Fed.R.Evid. 403 in that its probative value, if any, is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. According to Refco, the referral is directly relevant to critical issues in the case as corroboration for Refco’s assertion that JBT, through Grotjohn, acted in concert with Wymer, and not Refco. Refco claims the referral is also admissible under Rule Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) which allows evidence of other wrongs as proof of knowledge or intent. It maintains the statements in the referral that Grotjohn concealed his true relationship with Wymer and Ronlov and withheld documents relevant to the FDIC’s investigation of JBT are probative of JBT’s knowledge of the Wymer scheme and any intent to cover-up potential exposure for the scheme.

In addition, Refco states the referral is admissible as a party admission by the FDIC which is not hearsay under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2). FDIC’s position is that the referral does not qualify as an admission as it merely offers speculative opinions drawn from purportedly missing documents and “double hearsay” and contemplated that any formal evaluation of the suspicions would be undertaken by the United States Attorney’s Office.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 F.R.D. 623, 51 Fed. R. Serv. 1571, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-deposit-insurance-v-refco-group-ltd-cod-1999.