Dewey Defense: Everyone Sends Embarrassing Emails

As the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP trial plods into its sixth week, e-mails continue to play a key role.

From the day the indictment against Dewey’s three former leaders–former Dewey Chairman Steven Davis, ex-Chief Financial Officer Joel Sanders, and former Executive Director Stephen DiCarmine–came out more than a year ago, the prosecution has trotted out a series of e-mails sent by the defendants that they say show their intent to commit fraud.

In response, attorneys for the defense have argued that their clients were using sarcasm when they said things like “fake income” and “clueless auditor.”

This week, Andrew Frisch, an attorney for Mr. Sanders, used old e-mails sent by a government witness to try to show that everyone sends e-mails they don’t really mean.

Former Dewey partner Richard Shutran testified this week on his role in helping Dewey refinance $250 million in debt back in 2010, two years before the firm filed for bankruptcy.

Mr. Frisch showed the jury an e-mail Mr. Shutran sent in response to a note congratulating him on his work on the refinancing.  “No problem,” Mr. Shutran replied, “I spend most days bulls—ing people.”

“Is that so?” Mr. Frisch asked in court. “No, it was a joke,” Mr. Shutran said.

In another e-mail that Mr. Frisch read aloud, Mr. Shutran said: “Do what I do. Work out a lot and do drugs.”

“You were joking, correct?” Mr. Frisch asked. “That’s something that happens in writing e-mails? You write something that’s not intended to be serious, correct?” Mr. Shutran agreed, saying, “That’s right.”

In a third e-mail, Mr. Frisch refreshed Mr. Shutran’s memory on a message he sent to Mr. Davis in response to an e-mail sent to partners in November 2009 urging them to collect money from clients. “If any of them call me, I will kill them,” Mr. Shutran wrote.

“Again, were you being jocular, sarcastic, or silly?” Mr. Frisch asked. “That’s correct,” Mr. Shutran replied.

With several months of the trial still left, it’s unclear how many of these exchanges the jury will retain and what influence they’ll have on the final verdict. But in the meantime, it makes for an interesting day in court.