The feds don’t appear concerned that some of Bernie Madoff’s former cronies are trying to use the “Cannibal Cop” ruling to beat their convictions in the Ponzi monster’s epic $65 billion fraud.
Assistant US Attorney Matthew Schwartz wrote to Manhattan federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Thursday saying the government does “not intend to respond to” letters by two lawyers seeking acquittals for the five-ex Madoff staffers convicted in March — all of whom are trying to feast off Monday’s ruling by Judge Paul Gardephe that sprung former Officer Gilberto Valle from jail.
As The Post reported, Andrew Frisch, a lawyer for former Madoff operations chief Daniel Bonventre, wrote Swain on Tuesday saying Gardephe’s ruling strengthens the ex-staffers’ argument of “prosecutorial misconduct” during their trial by Assistant US Attorney Randall Jackson — who also handled the Valle case.
Gardephe, in his 118-page “Cannibal Cop” opinion, hadn’t address Jackson by name but noted that “the government tended to undermine or contradict the court’s prior rulings and jury instructions, raising concerns about whether … the jury’s verdict was the product of unfair prejudice.”
Still, Gardephe also made clear that his opinion “makes no finding” as to “whether the government’s arguments to the jury, justify a new trial” for Valle. He said he reached that decision through different factors.
Schwartz pointed out to Swain that Gardephe’s ruling overturning Valle’s 2013 conviction of conspiring to kidnap, rape and eat women “contains no finding of misconduct, and that it was decided on the unique facts of the case.”
During the trial of the ex-Madoff staffers earlier this year, defense lawyers objected when Jackson compared the defendants to bank robbers and drug dealers who left behind bullet casings and fingerprints.
They also objected to Jackson’s reference to criminal behavior in “The Godfather” films during closing arguments, saying it had nothing to do with the case.
Larry Krantz, a lawyer for ex-Madoff computer programmer George Perez, had filed papers Wednesday trying to tie in Gardephe’s ruling with rebuttal issues he had during the Madoff employees’ trial.
Schwartz attached a copy of a court ruling he believes addressing Krantz’s points.