Executives of corporations claim that Preet Bharara's high-profile actions led to fabricated corruption charges against them.
In a high-profile case, executives Joseph Gerardi and Steven Aiello of Cor Development Co. were arrested on federal corruption charges on September 22, 2016. The indictment, which pooled unrelated charges and defendants into one large case, has sparked controversy and raised questions about prosecutorial ethics.
The executives were indicted on six felonies, including bribery and wire fraud, in November 2016. Prior to this, in July 2016, they were notified they were targets of the investigation. However, their lawyers claim they were misled by an assistant U.S. attorney during a proffer meeting in June 2016, and spent a combined 10 hours being interrogated.
Anthony Copani, the lawyers for Aiello and Gerardi, states that if he had been informed they were targets of the investigation beforehand, he would not have allowed them to attend the interviews. The lawyers issued a joint statement expressing their confidence in their clients' integrity and honesty, and stating that the charges against them are unfair. On Friday, August 4, they filed a motion to dismiss the charges against them.
The lawyers seek to paint a picture of prosecutorial overreach in the case. Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney, is cited as a key figure in the effort to dismiss the charges due to his high-profile media tactics. Bharara, known for using media tactics in federal corruption cases, has been criticised for potentially prejudicing public opinion and affecting the impartiality of judicial proceedings by creating a media narrative before and during trials.
Bharara fueled public perceptions of guilt by making statements linking the case to his successful prosecutions of high-ranking state leaders such as Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
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Aiello and Gerardi claim that the arrest and subsequent media coverage were part of a pattern of prejudicial publicity by federal prosecutors. Prosecutors refused to let Aiello and Gerardi voluntarily appear to face the charges, instead raiding their homes at 6 a.m. with guns drawn. The trial is set to begin on October 30, and prosecutors have until June 30 to respond to the motions filed on Friday. The motion seeks to have their cases separated from the other defendants in the indictment.
Preet Bharara was fired in March 2017 by President Donald Trump along with dozens of other federal prosecutors. The controversy surrounding his media tactics and their impact on the fairness of trials continues to be a topic of debate among legal experts.
- The executives, Aiello and Gerardi, assert that the arrest and subsequent media coverage were part of a pattern of prejudicial publicity by federal prosecutors, adding fuel to their claim that their cases should be separated from the other defendants in the general-news indictment.
- In the ongoing debate among legal experts, Preet Bharara's media tactics, particularly in Crime-and-justice cases, have been cited as potentially contributing to unfair trials, with his high-profile tactics raising questions about prosecutorial ethics.
