In a major legal defeat for NY attorney general Eliot Spitzer, Bank of America broker Ted Sihpol was acquitted of charges that he illegally helped a New Jersey hedge fund trade in mutual funds after the stock market had closed. Sihpol was the only individual charged by Spitzer in the so-called late trading scandal. The verdict is further evidence that Spitzer’s claims regarding corporate corruption are exaggerated, sensationalistic, and lacking in legal merit.
A jury acquitted Sihpol of 29 counts of larceny, securities fraud and falsifying business records but deadlocked on four other counts (resulting in a mistrial). Sihpol’s defense was based on late trading being a completely legal activity at the time and that he lacked intent to commit a crime.
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