Gambler wants insider-trading case tossed over FBI leaks
LAS VEGAS gambler Billy Walters played his hand last Friday, asking a judge to dismiss insider-trading charges against him after an FBI agent leaked details about the confidential probe to the press.
Walters said in a court filing that the FBI violated his rights by leaking to the press details of a confidential probe of his stock trading. The agency did so to breathe life into a flagging investigation, hoping to prod targets to incriminate themselves after a wiretap on Walters’s phone failed to turn up evidence, said defence attorneys Barry Berke and Paul Schoeman.
Should the judge decide against dismissing the indictment, Walters asked that a hearing be held to investigate the leaks.
“But for this illegal investigatory scheme, Mr Walters never would have been indicted,” Berke said in a filing Friday in Manhattan federal court. The 2013 leaks “were intended to and did successfully revive a dormant investigation,” he wrote.
The FBI is under increased scrutiny, including having come under fire over a probe into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has begun to scrutinise whether FBI Director James Comey properly handled the agency’s investigation of the Democratic presidential candidate’s use of a private email server.
In the Walters case, the Justice Department last month began a criminal probe into the actions of a veteran FBI supervisor, David Chaves, who has admitted leaking information about the government’s investigation to reporters at the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. US District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan said at a hearing in December that he’d allow Walters to file a request to dismiss the charges because of the leaks.
Adrienne Senatore, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s New York office, and Jim Margolin, a spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, declined to comment on the filing. Prosecutors have previously said they were harmed by Chaves’s unauthorised leaks. Sean Casey,
But for this illegal investigatory scheme, Mr Walters never would have been indicted. Barry Berke, defence attorney
a lawyer for Chaves, didn’t immediately respond to voicemail or e-mail messages seeking comment on Walters’s request.
Walters was indicted last year, accused of orchestrating an insider scheme that also entangled golfer Phil Mickelson and Dean Foods Co.’s former chairman Tom C. Davis. Walters is alleged to have made US$ 43 million by trading on tips from Davis, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors. — WP-Bloomberg