Jim decided to testify on his own behalf at his trial because he wanted the judge and the jurors to hear his side of the story and understand what really happened.
But when he was finally on the stand, the prosecutors only allowed him to answer short specific questions, and his own attornies never bothered to draw out Jim's story in his own words.
After his conviction and sentencing, Jim finally tried to do this in his letter to the Judge, but that too, in my opinion, fails to show that Jim too was a victim of his CFO Mike McKeever, banker Vito Pantelone, and the stystem, which allowed him to become a victim of a scam artist and a shister.
When Jim was in the process of purchasing the Packard Building in Center City Philadelphia, it was a new crown in his string of jewels that included the Jewish Federation Building in Center City Philadelphia, the Flanders, Watsons and Homestead Hotels in Ocean City, the Linwood Business Center and White Sands hotel in Bermuda, as well as a dozen boardwalk and off boardwalk apartment/condos, valued in total over $250 million.
Jim Dwyer was on top of the world when he sat down for dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant in Philadelphia in the middle of the settlement to seal the deal on the Packard Building. There was a new hitch in the $8 million dollar deal when one of the banks that guaranteed a $1 million loan suddenly backed out and they had to come up with a quick million. Not a problem, said McKeever, the Chief Financial Officer, who suddenly keeled over and died of a heart attack.
While the meal was spoiled with McKeever's death, the deal went through, and Dwyer contacted his outside accountant in to go over all his finances in response to McKeever's death.
In a review of the company's finances, Dwyer and the accountant discovered that it wasn't as pretty a picture as McKeever had portrayed, and Dwyer had to flip the Packard Building in order to raise money to complete other deals - including the Lindwood Project and the Flander's Penthouses.
When the outside accountant became temporary CFO, they discovered that McKeever kept two sets of tax teturn reports for the company, each signed by Dwyer and his wife, one that was sent to the IRS and the other, apparenty presented to banks.
Dwyer and his accountant, upon discovery of these two tax returns, reported them to authorities, and turned them in. When Dwyer filed for bankruptcy, his finances were scruitinized to the penney, and the two tax forms used as the primary evidence against him in his indictment and conviction.
But it was never fully brought out to the judge and the jury that the most incriminating evidence of Dwyer's guilt was found and disclosed by Dwyer himself!
When investigators and prosecutors offered Dwyer a plea bargain, they said that if he pleaded guilty to a single count of bank fraud, he would get a year to three years in prison, but Dwyer believed he was innocent and fought the charges in court in order to clear, and keep his good name. He believed in the system and that the system would clear him, especially when they explained to him that he had to intend to defraud the banks when he took out the loans, something he knew he never intended to do.
When Dwyer decided to fight the charges, the prosecutors broke down the loans into nine separate counts rather than one, and also charged him with bankruptcy fraud, having convinced three witnesses to perjure themselves in exchange for not being charged with crimes unrelated to Dwyer's loans.
They also wired another businessmen who attempted to obtain loans from the same banks who asked Dwyer about paying special fees under the table in order to obtain the loans, to which Dwyer responded that he didn't make any such payments, wouldn't make any such payments and that he should go right to the FBI. But since that was exculpatory evidnce, rather than support for the prosecutor's assertion of Dwyer's corruption, it was never entered into evidence.
Additional evidence of Dwyers' innoncence was known to the prosecutors when they showed Dwyer a document with his name and signature on it, which he said, under oath, that it was not his signature. He had previously acknowledged that it was his signatures on the two tax forms, but he didn't recall ever signing them, and they were probably signed during the course of a settlement when many such records are signed.
The one document that contained a fabricated signature purported to be Dwyers, was never entered into evidence, but apparently was a parole record of Mike McKeever, whose previous conviction for fraud and embezzlement as CFO of a Fortune 500 company (Revlon) was kept from Dwyer, who never met McKeever's parole officer(s). Apparently McKeever forged Dwyer's signature on these parole records, and the parole officer (a women), who appeared at McKeever's job site on occassion, never bothered to tell Dwyer that he had a former convict in his employ who had previously embezzled millions of dollars and served time for it.
But the prosecutors knew that the record existed, and that it wasn't Dwyer's signature(s)on it, and that the parole officers, who weren't called to testify, never notified Dwyer that he had a master thief in his employee in the most critical position in the whole company.
That document alone is the proof Jim needed at his trial that clearly indicated he did not know that his Chief Financial Officer had been previously convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and the parole office knew and wrongfully failed to notify Dwyer that he had such a person in his employ.
But that fact was never brought to the attention of the judge or the jury.
If all the facts were known and brought out, Jim Dwyer would not be in prison today.
But when he was finally on the stand, the prosecutors only allowed him to answer short specific questions, and his own attornies never bothered to draw out Jim's story in his own words.
After his conviction and sentencing, Jim finally tried to do this in his letter to the Judge, but that too, in my opinion, fails to show that Jim too was a victim of his CFO Mike McKeever, banker Vito Pantelone, and the stystem, which allowed him to become a victim of a scam artist and a shister.
When Jim was in the process of purchasing the Packard Building in Center City Philadelphia, it was a new crown in his string of jewels that included the Jewish Federation Building in Center City Philadelphia, the Flanders, Watsons and Homestead Hotels in Ocean City, the Linwood Business Center and White Sands hotel in Bermuda, as well as a dozen boardwalk and off boardwalk apartment/condos, valued in total over $250 million.
Jim Dwyer was on top of the world when he sat down for dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant in Philadelphia in the middle of the settlement to seal the deal on the Packard Building. There was a new hitch in the $8 million dollar deal when one of the banks that guaranteed a $1 million loan suddenly backed out and they had to come up with a quick million. Not a problem, said McKeever, the Chief Financial Officer, who suddenly keeled over and died of a heart attack.
While the meal was spoiled with McKeever's death, the deal went through, and Dwyer contacted his outside accountant in to go over all his finances in response to McKeever's death.
In a review of the company's finances, Dwyer and the accountant discovered that it wasn't as pretty a picture as McKeever had portrayed, and Dwyer had to flip the Packard Building in order to raise money to complete other deals - including the Lindwood Project and the Flander's Penthouses.
When the outside accountant became temporary CFO, they discovered that McKeever kept two sets of tax teturn reports for the company, each signed by Dwyer and his wife, one that was sent to the IRS and the other, apparenty presented to banks.
Dwyer and his accountant, upon discovery of these two tax returns, reported them to authorities, and turned them in. When Dwyer filed for bankruptcy, his finances were scruitinized to the penney, and the two tax forms used as the primary evidence against him in his indictment and conviction.
But it was never fully brought out to the judge and the jury that the most incriminating evidence of Dwyer's guilt was found and disclosed by Dwyer himself!
When investigators and prosecutors offered Dwyer a plea bargain, they said that if he pleaded guilty to a single count of bank fraud, he would get a year to three years in prison, but Dwyer believed he was innocent and fought the charges in court in order to clear, and keep his good name. He believed in the system and that the system would clear him, especially when they explained to him that he had to intend to defraud the banks when he took out the loans, something he knew he never intended to do.
When Dwyer decided to fight the charges, the prosecutors broke down the loans into nine separate counts rather than one, and also charged him with bankruptcy fraud, having convinced three witnesses to perjure themselves in exchange for not being charged with crimes unrelated to Dwyer's loans.
They also wired another businessmen who attempted to obtain loans from the same banks who asked Dwyer about paying special fees under the table in order to obtain the loans, to which Dwyer responded that he didn't make any such payments, wouldn't make any such payments and that he should go right to the FBI. But since that was exculpatory evidnce, rather than support for the prosecutor's assertion of Dwyer's corruption, it was never entered into evidence.
Additional evidence of Dwyers' innoncence was known to the prosecutors when they showed Dwyer a document with his name and signature on it, which he said, under oath, that it was not his signature. He had previously acknowledged that it was his signatures on the two tax forms, but he didn't recall ever signing them, and they were probably signed during the course of a settlement when many such records are signed.
The one document that contained a fabricated signature purported to be Dwyers, was never entered into evidence, but apparently was a parole record of Mike McKeever, whose previous conviction for fraud and embezzlement as CFO of a Fortune 500 company (Revlon) was kept from Dwyer, who never met McKeever's parole officer(s). Apparently McKeever forged Dwyer's signature on these parole records, and the parole officer (a women), who appeared at McKeever's job site on occassion, never bothered to tell Dwyer that he had a former convict in his employ who had previously embezzled millions of dollars and served time for it.
But the prosecutors knew that the record existed, and that it wasn't Dwyer's signature(s)on it, and that the parole officers, who weren't called to testify, never notified Dwyer that he had a master thief in his employee in the most critical position in the whole company.
That document alone is the proof Jim needed at his trial that clearly indicated he did not know that his Chief Financial Officer had been previously convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and the parole office knew and wrongfully failed to notify Dwyer that he had such a person in his employ.
But that fact was never brought to the attention of the judge or the jury.
If all the facts were known and brought out, Jim Dwyer would not be in prison today.
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