Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110388
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From wire and staff reports
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The U.S. District Court jury was deadlocked on the remaining 26 counts of securities and mail fraud against Mulheren.
After accepting the partial verdict, U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum ordered the jurors to return to deliberations on the remaining counts.
The jury returned the verdicts after a seven-week trial and seven days of deliberations in the Manhattan court.
Mulheren, who earned a reputation as a flamboyant and wildly successful stock speculator, showed no emotion as the verdict was read.
He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts - one count of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud.
A 1971 graduate of Roanoke College, Mulheren has donated more than $2.5 million to his alma mater.
He was on the Roanoke College board of trustees from October 1980 until October 1985. His wife now is on the college's board.
Judy Nelson, spokeswoman for Roanoke College, said officials there "continue to feel concern for the Mulheren family."
A co-defendant in the securities case, Leonard DeStefano, 34, was acquitted of two counts of conspiracy and record-keeping violations. He was a former trader at Mulheren's defunct firm, Jamie Securities Co.
Mulheren was convicted of one count of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud that charged he helped Boesky drive up the price of Gulf & Western stock in October 1985.
In November 1986, Boesky became a symbol of Wall Street misdeeds when he agreed to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators and pay $100 million in fines. He was released from federal custody in April after serving two years of a three-year term.
Prosecutors charged Mulheren bought 75,000 shares at Boesky's behest, driving the stock to $45 a share, the price at which Boesky wanted to sell about 3.5 million shares back to the company.
The jury was deadlocked on charges that Mulheren secretly held large blocks of other stocks to help Boesky evade taxes and federal securities disclosure laws.
The government claimed Mulheren "parked" for Boesky securities of Unocal Corp., Warner Communications Inc., Storer Communications Inc., Boise Cascade Corp., American Hospital Supply Inc. and R.H. Macy & Co.
Mulheren, 41, was a Wall Street wunderkind who headed a Merrill Lynch & Co. department at age 26 but was dragged into the government's insider trading investigation because of his business and personal relationships with Boesky.
In 1988, after learning Boesky had implicated him, Mulheren was arrested leaving his Rumson, N.J., mansion carrying a loaded assault rifle and army fatigues. Police said he planned to shoot Boesky.
The highlight of the Mulheren trial was Boesky's first public testimony against one of the Wall Street professionals he fingered under his plea bargain settling the biggest insider trading case ever.
Defense attorneys sought to discredit Boesky as a liar. In testimony, Boesky admitted he traded suitcases stuffed with cash for confidential information about imminent takeovers. In closing arguments, Mulheren's attorney, Thomas Puccio, called Boesky "a pile of human garbage."
Staff writer Mag Poff contributed to this story.
by CNB