Daniel Small, a former portfolio manager at Platinum Partners has been found guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy by a federal jury in Brooklyn – the fourth conviction of a former executive at the one-time $1.7 billion hedge fund, according to a report by Reuters.
Small, who was acquitted of a third charge, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, has subsequently moved that the evidence was insufficient to convict, an US District Judge Brian Cogan said in court that he sees issues with the verdict and will address the motion for an acquittal in the autumn.
If an acquittal is granted, prosecutors can file an appeal to restore the conviction, which happened when Cogan granted similar motions by other defendants in the case. In those instances Cogan’s acquittal rulings were subsequently reversed.
The prosecutions case against Small is that, along with other executives at the now defunct Platinum Partners, he schemed to defraud bondholders of Black Elk Energy Operations LLC, a Platinum-controlled oil exploration company, by diverting $70 million from asset sales to Platinum ahead of Black Elk’s 2015 bankruptcy.
