Ex-Credit Suisse Broker Given More Lenient Bail Conditions During Appeal
Ex-Credit Suisse Group AG broker Eric Butler was granted his request to remove his electronic monitoring as he appeals his securities-fraud conviction.
A lawyer for Butler on Aug. 6 asked U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Brooklyn, New York, to ease his bail conditions. In the alternative to removing the device, the lawyer asked for a schedule that would allow Butler to do laundry, shop for groceries and take his two-year-old son to playgrounds.
“Probation shall arrange appropriate restrictions,” Weinstein wrote on the motion in granting the request yesterday.
Butler was found guilty last August of fraudulently selling securities that cost investors more than $1.1 billion. He was convicted on three counts: securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Weinstein sentenced him in January to five years in prison. On June 25 the judge granted Butler his request to stay out of prison while he appeals
Butler was indicted with Julian Tzolov in 2008. Prosecutors claimed the men falsely told clients their securities were backed by federally guaranteed student loans and were a safe alternative to bank deposits or money-market funds.
Signing Bonuses
Butler and Tzolov can each keep $4.45 million in signing bonuses, according to a July 22 arbitration ruling lost by their former employer, Morgan Stanley, at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra.
Tzolov, who was returned to New York from Spain in July 2009 after fleeing prosecution, pleaded guilty that month to conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud. He testified as a prosecution witness against Butler, his former partner.
Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch in Brooklyn, declined to comment on Weinstein’s order. On Aug. 9, the government opposed the request to modify the conditions.
The case is U.S. v. Tzolov, 08-cr-370, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in Brooklyn, New York, federal court at tweidlich@bloomberg.net.
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