Why Jim Dwyer is Innocent

James M. Dwyer (JMD) is innocent of the bank fraud for which he was convicted because he never intended to defraud anyone when he took out those loans, and intent is required for him to be guilty.

Jim Dwyer is innocent because, over the course of four decades in the real estate business, he took out hundreds of mortgage loans and never defaulted on any of them. He was honestly successful, as anyone who has known him for any length of time will acknowldge.

Why would he suddenly, after amassing $250 million in real estate assets, including four hotels in Ocean City, one in Bermuda and two skyscrapers in Philadelphia, why would he suddenly jeopardize his business, his family and his life?

That's because he didn't.

Prosecutors offered Jim a plea bargain to admit guilt and avoid trial and get a short, two or three year sentence, which he would have served by now. But he knew he was innocent and believed and put trust in the criminal justice system to exonerate him.

Now we know what happened, and the prosecutors knew what happened, as it was quite clear that Jim Dwyer himself was the victim of his Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike McKeever, who died of a heart attack during the course of the purchase of the Packer Building in Philadelphia.

When Dwyer's outside accountant came in, they discovered that McKeever had utilized two sets of tax returns made up for Dwyer and his company, and they immediately reported this to authorities. Why would Jim Dwyer turn over the primary evidence that would be used against him if he was truely guilty?

JMD swears he did not know of the two sets of tax returns even though his signature and the signature of his wife appear on both documents. While JMD doesn't know when or how he signed these papers, he did sign many documents in the course of many (hundreds if not thousands) of property settlements over the course of the years that McKeever worked for him.

Jim met McKeever through Frank Mahr, at an AA meeting, and brought him into the company, first to do his tax returns, and then as CFO, a position McKeever also held previously at a Fortune 500 company (Revlon), though unknown to Mahr and Dwyer, McKeever had been previously convicted of embezzlement and had served time in prison for fraud.

McKeever's family was from the same North Philly neigborhood as the Dwyers, and Jim was close to Mike McKeever's brother, but was unaware of McKeever's conviction and jail time. McKeever's father was a banker and college professor who was also an acquaintence of former Philly mob boss Angelo Bruno. Bruno's mob family was known to have been involved in bank fraud and similar mortgage scams. (See: Tom Cocco case)

Although Dwyer could have gotten the mortgages offered to him with either set of tax returns, the two documents were the key to the "crime" in the minds of the jury and JMD's best friend, who thought the two tax returns were enough to prove guilt. It isn't.

Jim Dwyer didn't even need those loans, as he didn't want to operate the hotels and banquet services and wanted to sell them, and had buyers lined up (Gillians for the banquet center), but McKeever convinced JMD to keep them, operate them himself, and create a cash flow that was easy to skim. He also used these properties to obtain the loans from Vito Pantelone and Parke Bank.

Jim Dwyer never met any of the bankers who testified against him his trial, execpt Vito, who he met at a 76er basketball game. The very next day Vito was in McKeever's office talking about lending them money from his new bank, which were the very first loans ever made by Parke bank.

Early during the course of the jury delibarations, they sent a question out to the judge, asking about these early meetings between Dwyer and Pantelone, requesting the transcripts of some testimony, which meant the jury was beginning to question these deals. Although not as prevelant at the time, today they would understand the preditor lending these banks undertake, the fees they make and how the borrow becomes the victim. But the judge refused their request and told them to rely on their memories of the testimony.

How could Jim be convicted if he was innocent? Well, his defense attorneys, although well versed and competent, were also embroiled in some personal problems, with the lead attorney being sick for most of the trial. As it later came out, his wife was also bilking him for hundreds of thousands in dollars for a gambling habit, money that came from Dwyer's attorney fees.

Besides the loans that Jim took out for his company that went into default, he was also convicted of bankruptcy fraud, which was a manufactured charge later added, that used an invitory of furniture Jim sold to his son as proof of fraud, when it proved nothing. The invitory was just an invitory, and the price was the price Jim sold it to his son for, the amoung the son received as an insurance for a ski accident. Michael Hoffman, who drew up the invitory, his girlfriend who typed it up, and the women who notorized it, were all due to be charged with other crimes when they agreed to testify against JMD in exchange for not being charged with the other crimes, unrelated to Dwyer's case. The prosecutors couldn't get an honest conviction, so they had to utilize every means at their disposal to get three people to perjur themselves to convict Dwyer.

In his summary, the chief prosecutor said that "Jim Dwyer is not a good guy gone bad, but a bad guy discovered," but the only other example of JMD supplying bad information for a loan was for a home mortgate many years earlier, a loan that was paid off. So if Jim Dwyer was a bad guy discovered, where are the other crimes he committed over the course of his forty years in the real estate business?

That's because there aren't any other crimes.

And James M. Dwyer never intended to defraud anyone when he took out the loans from Parke bank, and therefore he is innocent.

As Jim's lawyer said early on in the trial, "It's not a crime to default on a loan or go bankrupt," as if that was the case, the jails would be full today.

When Jim Dwyer was convicted of bank fraud, he not only claimed he was innocent, but he said the system was set up wrong, and that the bankers had defrauded him, as he lost everything - his $250 million hotel and real estate empire, his friends and his family.

Now we understand how this could have happened, and the true facts must be brought out, either in a court of appeals, or at a new trial or other legal procedure.

In any case, James M. Dwyer is innocent and should not be in jail today.

William Kelly
billkelly3@yahoo.com