Tilton’s clients blamed

A lawyer for Lynn Tilton maintained his client didn’t hide her fund’s poor performance from investors — they just didn’t take the time to find the results.

In a three-hour cross-examination of the government’s first witness, defense counsel Reid Brodsky claimed the investor was negligent in not reviewing and properly analyzing monthly and quarterly financial statements from Tilton’s Patriarch Partners.

Brodsky presented the witness, David Aniloff, of SEI Investments, who has money in Tilton’s fund, with several documents showing that holdings of the funds did not make full interest payments, even though they were not classified as “in default.”

In one quarter, the fund’s holdings made only $14 million of an expected $20 million in payments, statements showed.

Tilton’s legal eagles reminded Aniloff that he received two S&P reports that discussed the unusual treatment of Tilton’s portfolio.

“If you had taken the time and looked at the report ... you could have figured it out,” Brodsky said.

Tilton, 57, stands accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of misleading investors in the Zohar fund as to its correct valuation, enabling her to pocket at least $200 million in fees.

In the afternoon, Tilton’s lawyers tried to show the court that an SEC expert witness, Michael Mayer, of Charles River Associates, was not an expert in distressed debt.

The civil trial, in Manhattan federal court, is expected to stretch into early November.