Business, Finance, & Economics: July 2009 Archives

Law.com reports:
Three months into the criminal trial of socialite Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and the lawyer he hired who allegedly helped him loot his mother's estate, the presiding judge has cleared the way for a trusts and estate expert to testify for the prosecution.

Alexander D. Forger, the former chairman of Milbank & Tweed, can give expert testimony on the "patterns" of Astor's wills and codicils and the "professional practice standards" for trusts and estates attorneys, Acting Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. ruled Wednesday from the bench.

However, the judge barred Forger from testifying on issues that could prove critical to the prosecution's case: whether Henry Christensen III, who represented Astor for more than 20 years, and G. Warren Whitaker, the attorney who drafted a hotly disputed Jan. 12, 2004, codicil to the socialite's 2002 will, violated ethical standards.

The federal trial of the man whose company allegedly took out a multi-million dollar loan in Butler County’s name without the county’s approval is scheduled to start Monday, July 27.   Orlando Carter, 42, of Mason pleaded not guilty in June 2008 to an 11-count indictment that included charges of bank fraud. He is accused of making false statements to secure more than $10 million in loans, and to obtain credit for personal real estate and the operation of his business, Dynus Corp.

U.S. Attorney’s Office lawyers questioned the defense team’s plan to call a forensic accountant expert to testify that Carter had every reason to believe his finances were what he said them to be. One of the charges against him is that he misrepresented his income to get a $850,500 home loan. The defense team said it plans to dispute bank records that the prosecution has copies of, but says the bank lost the originals.

Excerpted from OxfordPress.com.