United States v. Morgan

845 F. Supp. 934, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3482, 1994 WL 90148
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 21, 1994
Docket3:93 CR 00212 (TFGD)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 845 F. Supp. 934 (United States v. Morgan) 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. Morgan, 845 F. Supp. 934, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3482, 1994 WL 90148 (D. Conn. 1994).

Opinion

RULING ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND FOR DISCLOSURE OF GRAND JURY MINUTES

DALY, District Judge.

In this prosecution for misapplication of bank funds and bank fraud the defendant Michael G. Morgan (“Morgan”) moves to dismiss the indictment, or a portion thereof, on three grounds. Morgan claims that the indictment (1) violates his Fifth Amendment right against double jeopardy; (2) relies on an unconstitutional ten-year statute of limitations period and exceeds the applicable five-year statute of limitations period; and (3) is the result of improper and excessive use of hearsay testimony. Morgan also claims that count one of the indictment should be dismissed because the grand jury was not adequately instructed regarding the elements of the crime of misapplication of bank funds, and moves for disclosure of the grand jury minutes to further substantiate these claims. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is denied in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The instant indictment arises out of Morgan’s alleged activities as President and Chief Executive Officer of Charter Federal Savings and Loan Association (“Charter”), a federal savings and loan institution that opened for business in May 1984. That same year Charter established the Bedford Equities Corporation (“BEC”) for the purpose of developing real estate, and the Bedford Equities 1984 Limited Partnership (“BELP”), a real estate investment concern. BEC was the general partner of BELP. From its inception until August 1989 the qualifying deposits of Charter were insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”), and the bank was under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (“FHLBB”). The Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”) assumed the interests of the FHLBB in August 1989, and in April 1990 the OTS informed Morgan that he was the subject of an investigation into the activities of Charter, BEC and BELP. On June 29, 1990 the OTS seized Charter’s assets.

On January .19, 1993, and following a lengthy investigation, the OTS filed a “Notice of Charges and Hearing for an Order to Cease and Desist and to Direct Restitution and Other Affirmative Corrective Action and Notice of Intention to Prohibit” (“Notice”) against Morgan. Because Morgan’s first argument in the instant motion concerns the claim that the settlement constituted punishment for the same offense, the charges set forth in the Notice will be detailed here. The first charge of the Notice alleged that Morgan, as Charter’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of Charter’s Board, voted in favor of extending a $1,995,000 loan to BELP for the purchase of property at 1200 Summer Street (“Summer Street”) in Stamford, Connecticut. The Notice alleges that Morgan supported the loan without disclosing to Charter, BEC or BELP that he would receive $67,500 of a $75,000 brokerage commission paid by BELP to Samuel Boyarsky (“Boyarsky”). The Notice charges that as a result Morgan was unjustly enriched and caused loss or other damage to BEC in the amount of $67,500.

The second charge of the Notice accused Morgan of various illegalities in the purchase of an office building at 30 Buxton Farms Road (“Buxton Farms”) in Stamford. At Morgan’s direction BEC purchased Buxton Farms in November 1985 for $10,270,000. Prior to that transaction William Malloy (“Malloy”) suggested to Morgan that BEC sell the property to Arthur Beloff (“Beloff’) and Sol Terkeltaub (“Terkeltaub”) for $11,-500,000. This sale occurred in September 1986, and Malloy allegedly received a brokerage commission of $200,000. Further, Beloff and Terkeltaub were able to purchase this property because they obtained $3,300,000 in unsecured loans from Charter, which classified them as consumer rather than commercial real estate loans. Had the loans been properly classified Charter would have ex *938 ceeded the regulatory limit on commercial loans to individual borrowers. The false classification further allowed Charter and BEC to show a $1,700,000 pre-tax profit on the Buxton Farms transaction, without reflecting the fact that Charter had extended $8,300,000 in unsecured credit for the purchase. Beloff and Terkeltaub ultimately defaulted on their obligations to Charter and, pursuant to a workout agreement, Charter took title to Buxton Farms and forgave $2,900,000 of their debt. Beloff and Terkeltaub executed a promissory note to Charter in the amount of $1,420,000 for the balance, but failed to maintain payments. Charter as a result suffered a loss in excess of $1,000,-000.

The third charge of the Notice alleges that Morgan, in addition to directing BEC to pay Malloy the $200,000 brokerage commission for the Buxton Farms transaction, directed that this fee improperly be deferred from 1986 to 1987 to improve Charter’s balance sheet for fiscal year 1986. The payment was structured to appear as though it was part of a transaction for property located at 159 Franklin Street (“Franklin Street”) in Stamford (outlined below), and was made through Brian Egan, a “straw” party, to disguise the actual payment to Malloy. The Notice further alleges that this payment was made to enable Malloy to satisfy two loans Charter made to him in 1986 and 1987.

The fourth charge of the Notice alleges that Morgan committed further improprieties in connection with the purchase and sale of the Franklin Street property. Specifically, the Notice alleges that BEC and BVD Affiliates sold the Franklin Street property to Burt Hoffman (“Hoffman”) for $2,000,000. Simultaneous with and as part of this transaction, Charter loaned $3,475,000 to Hoffman at a favorable rate of interest, of which $1,600,000 was disbursed to fund a portion of the Franklin Street purchase price. Charter subsequently disbursed $450,000 to Hoffman for the balance on September 30, 1987. Charter records allegedly falsely stated that the purpose of the $450,000 disbursement was the development of other land previously purchased by Hoffman. The loan also allegedly violated federal regulations limiting the amount a bank may loan to an individual borrower for. a single development project. Charter listed a gain of $713,000 on the sale of Franklin Street in its records, but as Hoffman defaulted on his loans Charter ultimately lost in excess of $1,000,000.

Morgan and the OTS settled all charges contained in the Notice on January 19, 1993. The Consent Order called for Morgan to pay the sum of $1,800,000, See Consent Order, ¶ 3(a), (b), to submit personal financial records on every yearly anniversary of the Consent Order until the amounts set forth in ¶ 3 are paid, id. ¶¶ 4-6, 7, 8, and cease his participation in the affairs of financial institutions. Id. ¶¶ 2, 9.

The government brought the instant prosecution against Morgan on September 22, 1993 through the filing of a six-count indictment. The government concedes the indictment is based upon the conduct that formed the basis of the civil proceedings initiated by the OTS. 1 Morgan now moves to dismiss the indictment.

DISCUSSION

I. Double Jeopardy Claim,

Morgan first claims that the indictment violates his Fifth Amendment right to be free from double jeopardy. Morgan argues that the $1,800,000 settlement reached *939

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Bluebook (online)
845 F. Supp. 934, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3482, 1994 WL 90148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-morgan-ctd-1994.