Manhattan Prosecutor Requests Judge Halt Dewey Case

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Manhattan prosecutors seeking criminal charges against former leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP have asked a bankruptcy court judge to slow the case down against two defendants, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The request was filed in Wednesday by assistant district attorney Steve Pilnyak. The request was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Pilnyak requested that discovery in the lawsuit stop. The lawsuit in question was filed against Joel Sanders and Stephen DiCarmine. Sanders is the firm’s former chief financial officer and DiCarmine is the former executive director.

  

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The civil lawsuit is asking for more than the $21.8 million that the trustee of the firm says the two received as it “fell deeper and deeper into insolvency” prior to its collapse in 2012. The trustee said that the money should be recovered for the benefit of the firm’s creditors.

Pilnyak said that overlaps in claims in both civil and criminal actions are why the case should be halted for now. He specifically pointed to an amended complaint filed by the bankruptcy trustee in June. The complaint pulled information from Cyrus Vance’s office, which is running the investigation. Vance is the Manhattan District Attorney.

The attorneys for Sanders and DiCarmine have also asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn to stop the lawsuit.

In a filing, the bankruptcy trustee for Dewey said, “criminal conviction would buttress the trustee’s arguments” associated with the two men being involved in self-dealing “in procuring compensation arrangements and awarding themselves discretionary bonuses.”