He’s out to ‘lunge’
Ex-Platinum hothead guilty of fraud
An alleged Ponzi schemer — whose trial turned into a circus when he got caught on video trying to physically attack a federal prosecutor — was found guilty of three counts of fraud on Tuesday.
In May, Mark Nordlicht had lunged at Assistant US Attorney Lauren Elbert during a court break and was trying “for over 10 seconds to pursue the prosecutor while his wife almost pulled his suit jacket off while trying to restrain him,’’ according to court papers.
“You have no f--king morals!’’ Nordlicht screamed at Elbert during the incident, which was caught by a surveillance camera.
Nordlicht, co-founder of the fallen hedge fund Platinum Partners, and David Levy, the chief investment officer, on Tuesday were convicted of a scheme whereby they lied to investors in an energy company by hiding the fact that they secretly controlled the company’s bonds.
US District Judge Brian Cogan had jailed Nordlicht for a night after the hallway incident in May — and said his behavior was worse than that of a certain Mexican drug lord.
“I’ve tried cases with Mafia hit men, with Mexican sicarios [hired killers] and with terrorists who tried to blow up buildings,’’ said Cogan, whose past trials have included Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo’’ Guzman.
“I’ve never had any of them act this way,’’ Cogan added.
Nordlicht’s Platinum Partners had first gotten into hot water through charges brought against Norman Seabrook, the exhead of the NYC correction officer’s union, who pleaded not guilty in 2016 to allegedly taking a $60,000 bribe for a $20 million investment in Platinum.
Nordlicht and Levy were found guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud after a two-month trial. The pair were found not guilty of five other fraud charges.
A third executive, Joseph SanFilippo, was found not guilty of all charges.