United States v. Ferguson

478 F. Supp. 2d 220, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6551, 2007 WL 196668
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 24, 2007
DocketCriminal 3:06CR137 (CFD)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 478 F. Supp. 2d 220 (United States v. Ferguson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Ferguson, 478 F. Supp. 2d 220, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6551, 2007 WL 196668 (D. Conn. 2007).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTIONS RELATING TO THE SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT AND DISCOVERY

DRONEY, District Judge.

On September 20, 2006, a federal grand jury in the District of Connecticut returned a sixteen count Superseding Indictment charging the defendants, Ronald E. Ferguson, Christopher P. Garand, Robert D. Graham, Christian M. Milton, and Elizabeth A. Monrad, with conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Since their indictment, the defendants filed ten motions on matters relating to the indictment and discovery. Defendant Graham also moved for a severance. For the reasons stated below, these motions are granted in part and denied in part.

1. Background

The Superseding Indictment (“Indictment”) stems from an allegedly fraudulent reinsurance transaction between American International Group (“AIG”) and General Reinsurance Corporation (“Gen Re”) 1 initiated in late 2000. At that time, Ferguson was the chief executive officer (“CEO”) of Gen Re; Garand was a senior vice president and the chief underwriter of Gen Re’s finite reinsurance operations; Graham was legal counsel and a senior vice president at *225 Gen Re; Milton was AIG’s vice-president of reinsurance; and Monrad was the chief financial officer (“CFO”) of Gen Re. The indictment recounts that on October 26, 2000 AIG publicly reported that its year 2000 third quarter loss reserves declined $59 million from the previous quarter; after this news AIG’s stock price decreased and some outside stock analysts downgraded AIG’s stock. The indictment alleges that soon after this stock price drop, the defendants created a two-stage sham reinsurance transaction between AIG and Gen Re, which had the effect of boosting AIG’s loss reserves by $250 million in the fourth quarter of 2000 and by $250 million in the first quarter of 2001. Under the implementing contracts, AIG appeared to agree to reinsure Gen Re for $600 million of liability in exchange for $500 million in premiums; as a result, AIG appeared to assume $100 million in risk and gain $500 million in loss reserves. The indictment alleges, however, that pursuant to a secret side agreement, (1) the transactions did not actually transfer any risk from Gen Re to AIG, (2) AIG paid Gen Re $10 million to fund the first and only premium payment on the contracts, and (3) AIG paid Gen Re a $5 million fee to do the transactions because there were no other economic incentives for Gen Re. Despite the terms of this side agreement, the indictment alleges, AIG reported the additional $500 million in loss reserves in its mandatory SEC filings from 2001 until 2005. Further, allegedly because AIG reported increased enhanced loss reserves in both the fourth quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001, stock analysts positively changed their assessment of AIG’s economic health.

2. Motions Related to the Indictment:

The defendants filed five motions relating to the indictment: a motion for a bill of particulars, a motion to dismiss the mail fraud and securities fraud counts, a motion to strike surplusage, a motion to strike multiplicitous counts, and a motion to strike certain language. Defendant Ga-rand also moved separately for a bill of particulars. For the reasons that follow, these motions are denied.

A. Defendants’ Motion for a Bill of Particulars [docket #203]

Defendant Milton, joined by all of the other defendants, moved for a bill of particulars. The motion asks the Court to require the government to: (i) specify the allegedly false or misleading statements, the schemes or artifices to defraud, and the false entries in books and records alleged in the indictment, and (ii) identify the unnamed co-conspirators and other relevant parties. The government opposes the motion on both points. The government states that it has provided the defendants with adequate information about the defendants’ alleged false statements and fraudulent scheme through significant detail in the indictment and through its rule 16 disclosure materials, which are electronically and readily searchable. The government also claims that it has provided sufficient information so that the defendants can determine the identities of the unin-dicted co-conspirators referenced in the indictment.

A defendant is entitled to a bill of particulars when the indictment does not indicate which of his acts are allegedly criminal. United States v. Torres, 901 F.2d 205, 234 (2d Cir.1990). The bill enables the defendant to defend the initial charge properly and to avoid double jeopardy. A bill of particulars avoids imper-missibly shifting the burden of proving criminal liability from the government to the defendant. United States v. Bortnovsky, 820 F.2d 572, 575 (2d Cir.1987). Information that is necessary to give the *226 defendant enough specificity about his allegedly criminal conduct must be disclosed by the government even if it reveals the government’s evidence or theories of the case. United States v. Barnes, 158 F.3d 662, 665 (2d Cir.1998). However, a bill of particulars should only be granted when the particulars sought are necessary for the defendant to prepare his case, not in cases where the information would merely be helpful. United States v. Young & Rubicam, 741 F.Supp. 334, 349 (D.Conn. 1990). The defendant bears the burden of showing that the information requested is necessary and that he will be prejudiced without it so as to justify granting a bill of particulars. Barnes, 158 F.3d at 666. A mere statement that the defendant will be prejudiced without the bill is insufficient. See id. Even if the indictment does not fully give notice of the charges, a bill of particulars is still not necessary if the government provides the required notice in “some acceptable alternate form.” Bortnovsky, 820 F.2d at 574; see United States v. Nachamie, 91 F.Supp.2d 565, 572 (S.D.N.Y.2000). Granting a bill of particulars is within the sound discretion of the district court and will be reviewed only for abuse of discretion. United States v. Walsh, 194 F.3d 37, 47 (2d Cir.1999); Barnes, 158 F.3d at 665-66.

(i) Particulars of alleged false statements and fraudulent scheme

The defendants claim that they are faced with a lengthy indictment alleging false statements, false documents, and a fraudulent scheme, but they are left with insufficient guidance through the government’s 3.5 million page document production to specifically identify those false statements, false documents, and the fraudulent scheme. The defendants rely on Bortnovslcy, an insurance fraud ease where particulars were required by the trial court after the government produced 4,000 documents to the defendants without identifying the specific documents that were allegedly fraudulent. See 820 F.2d at 574-75. The defendants here argue that, like in that case, “the government did not fulfill its obligation merely by providing mountains of documents to defense counsel.” Id. at 575.

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Bluebook (online)
478 F. Supp. 2d 220, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6551, 2007 WL 196668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ferguson-ctd-2007.