Accused returns to fraud trial
2nd juror dismissed from case of alleged investment scam.
WEST PALM BEACH — Accused virtual concierge scammer Joseph Signore returned to federal court Monday, reporting he was feeling better after suffering chest pains Thursday, when he was taken out of court on a stretcher.
While Signore, 51, said he was fit, the same can’t be said of the jury, as the trial resumed Monday.
A second juror was dismissed after she admitted she told other panel members one of Signore’s co-defendants, Paul Schumack, looked like “a dirty old man.” She denied reports that she also told fellow jurors that Signore’s wife, Laura Grande-Signore, looked stoic. All three face multiple money-laundering and fraud charges in what prosecutors say was an $80 million scam.
What ultimately led to the juror’s expulsion was her admission that she would be suspicious if any of the three didn’t testify in their own defense. While she said she understood that defendants don’t have to testify, she said it would bother her if they didn’t.
“If I was innocent I would want to shout it to the world,” she said.
Even federal prosecutors didn’t object when U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley agreed with defense attorneys that her bias meant she couldn’t serve on the panel. Defense attorneys had asked him to declare a mistrial.
She is the second juror to be dismissed since the trial began last week. Another was dismissed last week after she admitted she had researched the case on the Internet. That means 14 remain for what must be a jury of 12 when jurors start deliberating in the trial, which is expected to last through Thanksgiving.
Signore, his wife and Schumack are accused of bilking thousands of investors by promising to place electronic concierge kiosks at hotels, stadiums, casinos and other venues. After a $3,500 initial investment, investors were promised 36 months of $300 monthly returns from advertising on the machines.
Prosecutors claim few ads were sold and only about 1,000 of the 26,000 machines that were paid for were produced by the company, housed in plush offices west of Jupiter.
Grande-Signore, 41, who has filed for divorce, and Schumack, 58, of Coconut Creek, both claim they thought the business was legitimate based on information Signore gave them. Signore claims the business would have been a success had it not collapsed under the weight of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and federal indictments.