BCCI - linked trial opens
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from March 1993.
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"This is not a typical case," said John Moscow, assistant Manhattan district attorney, in an opening statement that lasted throughout the morning in a packed Manhattan courtroom. "The defendant, a lawyer, deceived people and obtained millions of dollars."
Dressed in a dark suit, Altman appeared calm in the first day of the trial, which could last for months. His three sisters, parents and wife sat directly behind him, at times wincing as Moscow described his alleged crimes.
Moscow faces the challenging task of distilling the convoluted language of bankers and crates of records before an eight-woman, four-man jury.
He's seeking to convince jurors that Altman, 46, is guilty of state charges of receiving bribes, fraud, making false statements and falsifying business records. Each of the eight counts carry maximum four-year prison terms.
Four other men indicted with Altman will not stand trial at this time: BCCI's ailing founder, Agha Hasan Abedi; former BCCI executive Swaleh Naqvi; Kuwaiti businessman Faisal Saud Al Fulaij; and former Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, Altman's mentor and former law partner. Extradition issues have complicated prosecution of Abedi, Naqvi and Fulaij. Clifford, 86, is recuperating from open heart surgery he underwent last week.
The prosecution will seek to prove that Altman, along with the others, deliberately misled bank regulators and depositors "about BCCI's involvement in the operation, management, ownership and control of the First American group of banks."
The trial is expected to focus on Clifford and Altman's activities as attorneys for a group of Middle Eastern investors who in 1982 successfully purchased a major Washington, D.C. bank now known as First American Bankshares Inc.
Clifford and Altman served as chairman and president, respectively, of First American, which the prosecution alleges BCCI controlled through a maze of offshore bank holding companies.
Altman is charged with three counts of falsifying business records Cont'd on page 2 from page 1
concerning BCCI's interest in First American's offshore holding company and three other records-keeping counts, including offering a false instrument for filing with New York state banking regulators. BCCI rewarded Altman through bribes in the form of sham loans and stock deals, and in legal fees to Clifford and Altman's defunct law firm, prosecutors charge.
Altman and Clifford have vigorously denied the charges, contending they were misled about BCCI's activities. Altman's attorney, Gustave H. Newman, is expected to present evidence that Altman's stock deals were legal and that his compensation was reasonable when compared to that offered by similar banks.
