Kelley v. Carr

567 F. Supp. 831, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16254
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedJune 14, 1983
DocketG77-550 C.A
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 567 F. Supp. 831 (Kelley v. Carr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kelley v. Carr, 567 F. Supp. 831, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16254 (W.D. Mich. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

NOEL P. FOX, Senior District Judge.

Presently before the court is plaintiff Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“Commission”) motion for summary judgment. The Commission seeks permanent injunctive relief, the appointment of an Equity Receiver, an accounting, and an order directing all defendants to disgorge to the Receiver all benefits derived from the violative actions discussed below.

BACKGROUND

This case originated on October 13, 1977, when Michigan Attorney General Frank J. Kelley (“Kelley”) filed a complaint against defendants in the Circuit Court for Ingham County, Michigan. The complaint charged violations of the anti-fraud and other provisions of the Michigan securities and consumer protection statutes in defendants’ solicitation and sale of options on futures contracts for London commodities. On October 31, 1977, defendants removed to this *834 court, and on November 2, 1977, the State amended its complaint to include violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act as amended by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act, Pub.L. 93-463, 88 Stat. 1389, 7 U.S.C. §§ 1-22.

A temporary restraining order was granted by this court on November 7,1977, upon the amended complaint of Kelley, and the Commission was granted leave to intervene on November 8, 1977. The Commission’s complaint included three counts: fraud in connection with the sale of commodity options, under 17 C.F.R. § 32.9; failure to disclose required information, under 17 C.F.R. § 32.5; and failure to secure prompt execution of commodity option orders, under 17 C.F.R. § 32.8(c). The Commission also requested relief in the form of an injunction against further violations of the Act, the appointment of a Receiver for Lloyd Carr & Co., an accounting, disgorgement, and a protective order pendente lite.

On December 5, 1977, the court granted the preliminary injunction requested by the Commission, enjoining defendants from defrauding and deceiving customers with misleading information, and from destroying records. Kelley v. Carr, 442 F.Supp. 346 (W.D.Mich.1977), aff’d in part and rev’d in part, 691 F.2d 800 (6th Cir.1980). It also compelled the defendants to provide the Commission access to Lloyd Carr & Co. records and to give notice of the injunction to all employees. In addition, a Special Master was appointed.

Subsequent to this preliminary injunction, Lloyd Carr & Co. branch offices in a number of cities failed to provide the Commission access to records as mandated, and on January 9, 1978, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan and the Commission filed an application for an order to show cause why defendants and other Lloyd Carr employees should not be held in criminal contempt. On or about January 10, 1978, defendant Carr, a/k/a Alan Abrahams (“Abrahams”) 1 was taken into federal custody on the contempt citation, and upon discovery of his true identity, was also held as an escaped fugitive from New Jersey. On January 19, 1978, Lloyd Carr & Co. and Lloyd Carr Financial Co. were placed in equity receivership in a pending injunctive action filed by the Commission in Boston against the same defendants as in the instant action. 2

On January 30, 1978, on the motions of plaintiffs Kelley and the Commission, this court amended its preliminary injunction to terminate all solicitation and sales activities of the defendants, as a result of information received which indicated additional fraud, and the discovery of Abrahams’ aliases and outstanding state and federal charges. At the same time the appointment of the Master was vacated, in deference to the appointment of the Receiver by the Federal District Court in Boston.

Following a hearing on the contempt question, this court found defendants in contempt for violation of the earlier order. 3 Defendant Abrahams received a six-month *835 prison sentence, which was added to the sentence he was then serving for crimes in New Jersey. 4 Abrahams has since pled guilty, in the Southern District of New York, to a multi-count mail and wire fraud conspiracy based on the same activities alleged in the Commission’s pleadings in this action. He received 54 months additional prison time. United States v. Abrahams, 79 Cr. 425 (WCC) (S.D.N.Y. 3/31/80). Abrahams was recently released from the Federal Correctional Institution at Raybrook, New York.

James A. Brien, Michael D. Shuster, Thomas Labus, Robert Ralph Zoila and Stephen Buzzi, all former management employees of Lloyd Carr & Co. were convicted, pursuant to the same indictment to which Abrahams pled, of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with their Lloyd Carr & Co. activities. United States v. Brien, 617 F.2d 299 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 919, 100 S.Ct. 1854, 64 L.Ed.2d 273 (1980).

Defendant LeMieux, although served with the complaint and summons, has never entered an appearance in this case, and his whereabouts are apparently unknown. Default was entered against him by the Clerk on March 2, 1983. A motion for default judgment is now pending.

A full description of defendants’ activities can be found in this court’s opinion published at 442 F.Supp. 346 and the First Circuit’s opinion in U.S. v. Brien, 617 F.2d 299.

MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Plaintiff Commission has now filed a motion for summary judgment seeking permanent injunctive relief, appointment of an Equity Receiver, an accounting, and an order directing all defendants to disgorge to the Receiver all benefits derived from their violative activities in this action. On a motion for summary judgment, the movant has the burden of showing conclusively that there exists no genuine issue as to material fact and that the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. Smith v. Hudson, 600 F.2d 60 (6th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 444 U.S. 986, 100 S.Ct. 495, 62 L.Ed.2d 415 (1979); Tee-Pak, Inc. v. St. Regis Paper Co., 491 F.2d 1193 (6th Cir.1974); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Rule 56 applies to government enforcement actions for injunctive relief, like the instant action, as well as other types of civil litigation. See, e.g., Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Savage,

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567 F. Supp. 831, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelley-v-carr-miwd-1983.