Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990 TAG: 9006260560
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BY DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER LENGTH: Long
Lucion apologized for what he did, and Craft admitted he is a crook.
U.S. District Judge James Turk was unmoved by the belated displays of conscience from the two con men who stole more than $2 million from 85 people who, from 1982 to 1986, inadvertently invested in an interstate shopping center purchasing scam.
He sentenced Lucion, 40, to 10 years in prison on racketeering and fraud charges. He fined Lucion $1,005,000, the amount he pocketed, even though Lucion has only about $300,000 in known assets left to pay the fine. Turk said he wanted the fine divided among the investors, who stand to lose $5 million to $12 million more in losses from the failing shopping centers.
Craft, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and cooperated with prosecutors, was given a lesser sentence - eight years. He was not fined because he is broke. All of his remaining money has been turned over to bankruptcy court to divide among the people he cheated and other creditors.
Turk made Craft, 42, eligible for parole after serving one year. Lucion is eligible after 18 months. Court officials said, however, that Craft probably will have to serve at least three years and Lucion four.
The judge allowed both to remain out of prison for a few weeks to give them time to close their business affairs. Craft, a Vinton accountant, was given until Aug. 27. Lucion, a former Roanoke real estate salesman who now works in Miami, was given until July 30.
Some of the investors were surprised that Lucion showed up for the sentencing. They believe he stashed up to half a million dollars in some foreign bank and expected him to flee.
"I think he's dumb," Peggy Gibbs said. "He should have skipped the country." Gibbs, who lost $150,000, said Lucion still may get a chance since Turk allowed him to remain free for another month.
Peter Strasser, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, said he doubts Lucion will take off. Life on the run is rough, Strasser said, and there's no evidence that Lucion has hidden any money.
"If it's in a bank account in the . . . Caymans, then the joke's on us," he said.
What happened to all the money is the question that was on nearly everyone's mind, including Turk's.
"I still don't understand how you're broke today," Turk said to Craft.
Craft replied that he did not blow the money on high living and gambling like many of the investors claim. Instead, he said, he lost everything he stole and everything he had, trying to make up for what he did. He said that he actually made only $721,000 in the illegal deal with Lucion and that he spent $740,000 buying back bad investments from some of the people he cheated.
Craft's testimony caused several investors to laugh out loud in the courtroom. One, Henry Brabham, owner of the LancerLot in Vinton, said, "I don't want to hear this sad story." Brabham said his losses total about $400,000. "If he doesn't get any [expletive] time, his [expletive] is mine," Brabham said of Craft.
Turk agreed with Strasser that Craft and Lucion were equally to blame, but many of the investors hold Craft more accountable.
"If it hadn't been for him, most of us wouldn't have invested," Brabham said.
Since he pleaded guilty last year and agreed to testify against Lucion, Craft repeatedly has put most of the blame on Lucion. He said Lucion came up with the fraud scheme. It was only later, Craft said, that he began to realize it was wrong and illegal.
Under questioning from Strasser on Monday, Craft finally admitted that he knew all along it was a crime.
"You knew you were committing a crime," Strasser asked.
"Yes," Craft replied. "I participated willingly."
But Craft still tried to put the bulk of the blame on his former partner. "Steve Lucion did suck me into this. . . . He'd screw me as fast as he'd screw anybody else."
Craft glared at Lucion when he passed him in the courtroom. Lucion just stared as if seeing nothing.
Joel Hirschhorn, Lucion's Miami attorney, said Lucion spent much of his ill-gotten gains on attorneys to fight numerous lawsuits filed against him before he was indicted. The fees came to nearly $400,000.
Hirschhorn, who defended Lucion at his three-week trial in February and March, charged a much more modest $50,000. But the amount he gets will be decided by a bankruptcy judge.
As they left the courtroom Monday, Hirschhorn, who made his reputation and a fortune defending Miami drug smugglers, told Lucion he was surprised by the size of the fine Turk imposed. "A million, I haven't seen a drug dealer fined that much."
At Hirschhorn's instruction, Lucion has repeatedly refused to testify for fear of incriminating himself. Instead, Hirschhorn portrayed Craft as the mastermind who betrayed friends, clients, everyone, including Lucion. He said Lucion also put some of the blame on bad advice from attorneys who helped him set up the shopping center deals.
Turk would have none of that argument Monday. There was no evidence that any of Lucion's attorneys did anything wrong, Turk said.
Lucion stuck to his silence Monday until Turk asked him if he had anything to say before sentencing.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He squeezed his fingers so tight they turned red.
"I am sorry to everybody who has been involved," Lucion told Turk. "There's no way I can sit here and apologize enough to take away the damage that has been done by our deeds."
The investors, many of whom have sat through virtually every court hearing for four years, were strangely quiet after the sentences were imposed.
"I'm numb," Peggy Gibbs said. "After all this time, I'm numb."
by CNB