Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990 TAG: 9005230504
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Appearing relaxed on the stand in the trial of former associate John Mulheren, Boesky delivered his first public testimony Tuesday since his 1986 plea bargain, centerpiece of the nation's biggest insider trading scandal.
Boesky spoke in a deep, strong voice, occasionally adjusting the microphone when it failed to pick up his words.
When a juror complained she couldn't hear his answers, he suggested he and the prosecutor go over the testimony again. That command is usually reserved for the judge, who put a finger over her lips in a hushing gesture to Boesky.
Later, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum had to admonish him for answering questions before they were asked.
Boesky pleaded guilty to one felony count in 1986 and paid $100 million in penalties. He served two years in prison and gave the government incriminating information about a number of associates, including Mulheren.
Boesky is the government's main witness in Mulheren's securities fraud trial. The biggest drama could come later; Mulheren's lawyer, Thomas Puccio, is expected to grill Boesky about his own credibility and criminal past.
Dressed in a charcoal suit and dark blue tie, Boesky testified that he received inside information about proposed takeovers from former investment bankers Dennis Levine and Martin Siegel, and that he had agreed to pay them up to 5 percent of his firm's profits for their help.
He said he never gave Levine any money. Siegel, however, received $800,000 in three cash deliveries, Boesky said.
"It was assembled by a colleague out of my personal accounts, put into a briefcase and handed by an intermediary to Mr. Siegel," Boesky said.
by CNB