A federal judge denied David H. Brooks bail Tuesday, citing concerns about his access to immense wealth and the possibility that he could obstruct justice from within the walls of his 58th-floor Upper East Side highrise. "I think the government has established that there is a serious risk of flight," U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said during a hearing in Central Islip. "I don't have a clue what this man's assets are."
Brooks, who arrived in jail looking tired and unshaven in an orange jumpsuit, allegedly looted his former company, DHB Enterprises Inc, of almost $200 million to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included extensive use of a private jet charged to the company, a $101,000 belt buckle and an $8 million Bat Mitzvah party for his daughter.
Manhattan-based defense attorney Paul Shechtman had offered to the judge that Brooks would make extensive concessions in exchange for a release to home confinement. These included the forfeiture of $55 million in addition to the $135 million the government had already seized; a $400 million bond secured largely by Brooks' children, two of whom attended the hearing; an offer to pay for the security monitoring; and restrictions over who could visit him.
But prosecutors said the request was insufficient since the government does not know the extent or disposition of Brooks' financial resources, which are said to spread out over 100 bank accounts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Martin told the court the $135 million in seized assets should not be counted toward Brooks' bail, since the government believes that the money does not rightly belong to him.
In a bail letter filed yesterday, federal prosecutors detailed actions by Brooks that they believed argued against his bail proposal. He moved his family to London shortly after two key associates were indicted, they say, he had documents and computers that were under subpoena removed from DHB's then-headquarters in Westbury, and he wired millions of dollars into overseas accounts.
"Literally dozens of witnesses have expressed to the government that, based on Brooks' history of intimidation and threats … they fear retaliation from Brooks," the letter said.
Martin also disclosed that the government was seeking to recapture $22 million that Brooks had transferred to DHB in partial settlement of a shareholder lawsuit.
Judge Seybert ordered the two parties to continue negotiating bail procedures and to present a compromise to her in a hearing Friday.
Earlier Tuesday, former DHB chief operating officer and key Brooks deputy Sandra Hatfield pleaded not guilty under the same indictment Brooks is fighting. Her trial is set to begin in January.
Poster Comment:
Remember this greedy MIC warpig's image everytime you read about a US soldier's death in Iraq or when you hear congressmen/talk show hosts promoting conscription so fedgov can start more useless ME wars and occupations for Israel/MIC/oil:
"$200 million to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included extensive use of a private jet charged to the company, a $101,000 belt buckle and an $8 million Bat Mitzvah party for his daughter."