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Merrill Lynch and Co staff 'face white collar crime retrial'

Published on 19 Jun 2009 under category: legal

A number of former Merrill Lynch and Co staff could face a second trial for fraud crimes after it was decided that this would not count as double jeopardy.

The executives will be tried in connection with Enron's sham sale of three power barges in 1999 after their original conviction for white collar crimes including conspiracy was overturned.

A decision by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals will allow Daniel Bayly, James Brown and Robert Furst to face other charges in relation to the incident, which allowed the company to inflate its 1999 earnings through the sale of the ships to Merrill Lynch.

The appellate judgment reads: "We could not have been clearer that our reversal was premised narrowly and solely on the failure of the honest services charge."

It continues by recognising the implicit possibility that wrongdoing could be proven through a retrial under different white collar crime statutes.

A recent UK fraud crime case centred on the NHS has fallen through due to the weak evidence presented by the prosecution.